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GREAT NATIONS 

WALES 



GREAT NATIONS 

AN important new series in which an 
attempt is made to tell the stories 
of the great nations from the modern his- 
torical standpoint. Attention is specially 
directed to art, literature, science and other 
civilizing: influences. Each volume, about 
500 pages, profusely illustrated, demy 8vo, 
7S 6d net. 

First Volumes 

ANCIENT GREECE : Its Art, Litera- 
ture, and Philosophy viewed in con- 
nexion with its External History 
from Earliest Times to the Age of 
Alexander the Great. By H. B. 
Cotterill, M.A. 

REPUBLICAN ROME: Her Conquests, 
Manners, and Institutions from the 
Earliest Times to the Death of Caesar. 
By H. L. HaveU, B.A. 

MEDIEVAL ITALY : A Brief Historical 
Narrative, with Chapters on Great 
Episodes and Personalities and on 
Subjects connected with Religion, Art, 
and Literature. By H. B. Cotterill, 
M.A. 

WALES: Her Origins, Struggles, and 
Later History, Institutions and Man- 
ners. By Gilbert Stone, B.A., LL.B. 

In active preparation 
FRANCE. By Professor W. H. Hudson 
GERMANY. By T. W. Rolleston 

ANCIENT INDIA. 

By E. B. HaveU, M.A. 

IRELAND. By Eleanor Hull and 

Professor Stanley Lane-Poole 

SCOTLAND. By R. L. Mackie, M.A. 




«- (Siiiiiitz^ ^f^^ -^/S-A^. 



WALES 

HER ORIGINS STRUGGLES AND 

LATER HISTORY INSTITUTIONS 

AND MANNERS 



BY 
GI LBERT 



STON E 



Sometime Scholar of Gonville and Caius College 
Cambridge B.A. LL.B. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE 

RIGHT HON. ELLIS J. GRIFFITH 

K.C. M.P. 




LONDON 
GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY 
2&Z PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C. 

MCMXV 



5« 



TO 
ELIZABETH STONE 



|5 



Printed at the Ballantynt Press London England 



^ 



INTRODUCTION 



ON no historical subject is the modern mind, saturated 
as it is with a superficial philosophy of Imperialism, 
so apt to go astray, and with dire consequences, as 
on the question of nationalitJ^ Sometimes the term ' nation ' 
is used even by statesmen and philosophers with a mere 
territorial or geographical significance, and made to include 
such widely divergent and utterly unrelated phenomena as, 
for instance, the Tyrolese and the Germans ; at other times 
it is used synonymously with the much more modern and 
artificial term ' state.' The reason for this confusion is 
obvious. A nation, like most of the simple and elemental 
things of our experience, does not readily admit of definition, 
although the phenomenon itself is perfectly easy to recognize. 
When we take into consideration the nations of the West as 
we know them to-day, in a more or less complex state of 
development, we find it almost impossible to discover anything 
in the nature of a common denominator, a deciding char- 
acteristic for all of them. A common racial origin, a distinct 
language, political independence, peculiar and definite customs 
and traditions, a homeland with an unbroken and independent 
history, religious affinity, military unity, have all of them 
been suggested as distinguishing characteristics, but on appli- 
cation to concrete instances all of them fail. A modern poet 
came nearer the truth than all the philosophers when he said 
that " a commxmity of memories and of hopes " is the common 
characteristic of all nations, but even this loose and spiritual 
definition requires, if not modification, at least restatement. 

Just as certain natural forces when brought into play under 
certain conditions produce certain characteristic results, so 

V 



HISTORY OF WALES 

also certain historical processes produce well-defined and easily 
recognizable results called ' nations,' 

These processes are always at work, and new nations are 
being continually called into existence, while old nations 
decay, disintegrate, and disappear. 

Nationality, from an evolutionary point of view, may only 
be a phase in a particular process of development, starting 
with the family and ending ultimately with the world-empire ; 
and, indeed, a certain type of philosopher is never tired of 
reminding us that in the interests of the human race generally 
the process needs accelerating : to them the Bmpire is a great 
deal nearer the ideal than the Nation, a proposition, for many 
reasons, demanding considerable demonstration, and with 
which we are not concerned. In this historical study the 
author's purpose has been to outline the processes which have 
been at work in the making of a peculiar and characteristic 
phenomenon — Welsh Nationality, 

Some people would very likely deny what to us appears to 
be an incontrovertible fact, that Wales of to-day is a distinct 
nation, and in support of their attitude would cite its relation- 
ship to the United Kingdom and to the British Empire. 
They would maintain, and with some truth, that at any rate 
since the Tudor period it has shared the same fortunes as 
England. Its political and social system is much the same 
as that of the United Kingdom generally, and its needs and 
interests are identical with those of the other territorial units 
in the kingdom. None of these propositions would be correct 
without very considerable qualification, but, admitting their 
strict accuracy for the sake of argument, it is still certain 
that they are all irrelevant considerations. 

Any person not of the country itself but coming into Wales 
from the outside is immediately conscious of the fact that 
he has entered a strange country. It may well be that he 
has come into a district which, like Ireland, speaks the English 
language ; still none the less will he feel that the people are 
in some strange and subtle way in permanent contrast with 
the English people themselves. It would be difficult to define 
vi 



INTRODUCTION 

the difference in any detail ; most people would be content 
to say that it was in atmosphere, which means little or nothing. 
But we know the causes which have produced the effect — ^the 
different forces which have been at work in moulding the 
character of the people of the Principality : they have 
believed and worked for things of their own ; they have lived 
and died for their own distinct ideals ; their memories are 
different, and so, to a large extent, are their dreams and their 
hopes ; and he who comes to them from other lands and 
other peoples immediately becomes aware of this independence 
of soul, if not of political organization. 

Then there is a still more important fact. The Welsh 
people themselves are generally conscious of their independent 
nationality. It is this consciousness that makes nations. 
This raised Bohemia from being a mere racial group into the 
dignity of nationhood. This consciousness of unity and 
independence at a great poUtical crisis welded together the 
infinitely diverse elements of the United States and made 
a nation of the clashing factions. This consciousness kept 
Norway alive through all diplomacies and political exigencies 
imtil at last through the medium of literature the whole of 
Europe awoke to its national existence. It is this inward 
certainty of the soul that has made Ireland the chief and most 
difficult problem in British politics for many centuries. More, 
possibly, than any other force has this wrought miracles in 
history — ^from the days of the revolt of Israel against the 
Bmpire down to our times. We may deride and condemn 
it, as Turkey did with the Balkan States ; we may ignore it, 
as England did with Ireland ; we may for a time crush it with 
a tyrant's recklessness, as Austria did with Italy or Germany 
with Belgium ; in the end it will prove its power and win. 
Alone it is the supreme test of nationality ; and it exists in 
modern Wales, and is perhaps stronger to-day than at any 
other period of the nation's history because it is more universal 
— because it has captured the soul of the peasantry. 

We have already said that in the case of the Principality 
different forces have been at work. It is too commonly 

vii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

thought that since what is generally known as the Conquest 
of 1282 Wales has travelled historically along the same lines 
as England. This book will show how misleading such a 
conception is, how at almost every single great crisis in our 
history this consciousness of independence of which we have 
spoken has asserted itself and led the Welsh people a way of 
their own. 

At no time in the history of our civilization has it been 
more important that a great Empire and its citizens should 
understand the true import and significance of this kind of 
individualist development — to see clearly why and how in 
national life different causes produce different and distinctive 
results, why and how different moulding forces produce 
different attitudes and different needs ; and it is on the 
ground that in this book we find this great and important 
truth set out that I commend it not only to Welsh readers, 
who will naturally be deeply interested in it, but also to a 
much wider circle of readers — to the British public. 

El^IvlS J. GRIFFITH 



viu 



PREFACE 

THE history of Wales, which stretches back as far as 
that of any nation in Europe, and which presents to 
the student of peoples some most interesting problems, 
has been singularly neglected by historians until compara- 
tively recent years. The direct ancestors of the Welsh were 
offering sacrifices to their gods in Britain thousands of years 
before our era. The Welsh are, indeed, descended from races 
which conquered a large part of Western Europe, Albion, and 
Ireland ; their immediate ascendants, the Britons, opposed 
Caesar's landing and lived long under Rome's government, 
learning their lessons in Roman schools and pleading before 
Roman judges ; they fought stubbornly and for centuries against 
the barbarian Saxons, struggling as few people have had to 
struggle to preserve a great and widespread civilization. 
This people, driven back at last by force of overwhelming 
numbers to the mountains of Cymru, still held the flag of 
liberty aloft, met in succession and successfully Saxon and 
Angle and Dane, Norseman and Norman, until at last, worn 
out and embruted by centuries of warfare, they succumbed to 
the Norman castle-builders, as more than twelve hundred 
years before their ancestors had succumbed to the block-houses 
and forts of Frontinus and Agricola. 

A history of such an ancient people should be deeply 
interesting, yet until the middle of the nineteenth century 
there were singularly few histories produced relating to Wales 
or to Welsh movements. With the Annales Cambriae and 
the Brut y Tywysogion as foundation, the works of cleric 
chroniclers such as Caradog of I^lancarvan, a few later writers 
made some effort to tell the story of their country. Humphrey 

ix 



HISTORY OF WALES 

lylwyd, Powel, and Wjnine, working in turn on the primary 
authorities and editing the work of their predecessor, prevented 
Welsh history from falling into complete neglect. Some few 
others, such as Edward lyhuyd in the seventeenth. Pennant 
and Warrington toward the end of the eighteenth, and Merrick 
in the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, carried on, in a 
partial manner, the good work. 

As the nineteenth century progressed several fresh workers 
came into the field. The publication of the Myvyrian 
ArchcBology of Wales in 1801-7 had supplied subsequent writers 
with much good material, but it was not until the foundation 
of the third Cymmrodorion Society in 1873 that any great 
historical movement took place, although already B. B. 
Woodward (1853) and Miss WiUiams (' Ysgafell ') (1869) had 
produced bulky volumes on this subject. From the seventies 
onward the flow of works upon general and particular Welsh 
history became more and more considerable. Any adequate 
notice of modern writers is not possible within the limits of 
these pages, but every student of Welsh history owes a deep 
debt of gratitude to the Cymmrodorion Society and to the 
Cambrian Archaeological Society. Within the last twenty 
years, thanks largel}^ to the researches conducted by a com- 
paratively small body of enthusiastic scholars, our knowledge 
of Welsh history has been very greatly extended. Improved 
texts of the Brut y Tywysogion and the Ancient Laws of Wales 
have recently been issued, and it may be that the time 
will soon arrive when Welsh history has a bibliography 
commensurate with its importance. 

In the following pages an attempt has been made to treat 
of the history of Wales from the earliest times to the present 
day. The work is, however, chiefly concerned with the doings 
of the Welsh up to the Act of Union (1535). Thence onward 
events are surveyed less closely, except that an occasional 
pause is made for the purpose of noting some great and 
important national movement. 

I am fully conscious of the fact that throughout the work 
many statements are made dogmatically which in the present 



PREFACE 

state of our knowledge are highly debatable. Thus I regard 
the earlier people who lived in Britain as belonging to the 
Semitic race, I use this term conventionally. Many writers 
employ the term ' Iberian.' This is unfortunate for two 
reasons : (i) There is no sufficient ground for connecting the 
Neolithics of Britain with the Iberian rather than with any 
other of the so-called Mediterranean races ; (2) the word is mis- 
leading, since it turns our attention to the Spanish peninsula 
for no very obvious or cogent reason. Other writers refer to 
the Mediterranean races. This has the advantage of being 
non-committal and the disadvantage of being vague. Others 
direct our attention to the I^ibyan tribe of the Hamitic family. 
These last writers seem to be best supported by the available 
evidence, and I have long pondered a change from ' Semitic ' 
to ' Hamitic,' especially since I am at pains to show the 
connexion between Neolithic man and Egyptian culture. 
The term ' Hamitic ' is, however, vague and liable to be 
misconstrued, since several negroid races fall within that 
group. Again, as I point out in the body of the work. 
Neolithic culture, such as it was, was not improbably 
connected with that which flowed from the valleys of 
the Tigris and the Euphrates. This point of view, I think, 
is best brought into prominence by the use of the term 
' Semitic,' but it must be understood that that term is 
used conventionally to denote men racially connected either 
with the Hamitics of Egypt or lyibya or with the Semitics 
proper. 

Another point must be made clear. The title ' Briton ' 
is to-day borne by many peoples in many lands, few of whom, 
probabl}^ realize that, strictly speaking, it is the Welshman 
alone who is entitled to that name. When in olden times 
the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers referred to their enemies the 
Britons they used the term ' Wealas ' or ' Bret- Wea las.' 
When in 1870 the German historian von Treitschke spoke of 
the Frenchmen of Lorraine he used the term ' Walsch,' 
inelegantly translated in Elsass and Lothringen Past and 
Present as ' Welsh.' Both terms expressed the same notion 

xi 



HISTORY OF WALES 

of enmity. The Welshman was the Saxon's enemy, but he 
was a Briton-enemy. 

This fact that the Briton, the Briton of that Britain which 
the Teutons invaded, was the ancestor of the modern Welsh- 
man must be borne in mind, otherwise the treatment of the 
earlier chapters of the book may be regarded as confused. 
Since this work has been designed in such a manner that an 
impression, however imperfect, may be obtained of the imder- 
lying causes which have resulted in the development of the 
Welsh national character, it has been necessary to consider 
the history of the Welsh people rather than the history of 
that geographical area now known as Wales. Until the fifth 
century of our era the Welsh people were mainly found in 
Britain rather than in Cymru. The earlier chapters are 
therefore concerned with the inhabitants of Britain as a whole. 

A further result flowed from the desire to depict the gradual 
development of Welsh nationality. In the happiest of cir- 
cumstances it is not easy to provide an adequate picture of 
a people by a mere recital of wars, of political events, or of 
the intrigues or accomplishments of princes and statesmen. 
When one is considering the history of the Welsh people the 
difficulties, owing to several causes, chief of which are the 
scantiness of the original authorities, the nature of their 
compilation, and the date at which they were reduced to 
their present form, become almost insuperable. An endeavour 
has therefore been made to obtain an idea of the character of 
the ancient Welsh by a consideration of matters other than 
those which fall within the scope of a political history, using 
that term in its strictest sense. Their religion, laws, customs, 
and poetry have at least been glanced at. 

The spelling of Welsh names is always a difficulty, and it 
may aid the non-Welsh reader to follow the plan adopted i£ 
the following points are made clear : 

The forms Gruff ydd, Maredudd, Owain, Howel, Conan, and 
Ivlywelyn are consistently used. Exception, however, is made 
in the case of Gruff ydd ap Cynan (instead of Conan) and 
Gruff wdd (instead of Gruffydd), the son of I^lywelyn the 
xii 



PREFACE 

Great (with the consequent spelling of I^lywelyn Prince of 
Wales' name as lylywelyn ap Gruffudd). The purpose of these 
variations is to distinguish those important characters from 
other persons in Welsh history who bore similar names. The 
spelling of less common names has occasionally been varied 
also, chiefly because of a difference of period. 

The following is a list of EngUsh equivalents for Welsh 
names, taken in the main from the recently published Llyfr 
Baglan of John Williams (edited by J. A. Bradney, F.S.A.) : 



Cadwgan = Cadogan 
Goronwy or 

Grono = Stephen 
Gruffydd or Gruffudd = 

Griffith 
Gwilym = William 
leuan, leun = Evan 
lorwerth = Edward 
Maredudd = Meredith 
Meurig = Merrick 



Owain = Owen = Eugene 
Price = ap Rice (or Rhys) 
Rhydderch or 

Rhodri = Roderick 
Rhys = Rees or Reece 
Rinallt = Reginald 
Tewdwr = Tudor = 

Theodore 
Vychan «= Vaughan = 

lyittle (or ' the Junior ') 



Nest, a common feminine name, comes from nes, nessa, 
' near,* ' nearest,' and probably meant ' dear.' 

Welsh names are sometimes lengthy, men identifying 
themselves by reference to their father and grandfather. 

* Ap,' meaning ' son of,' is a late form, being a corruption of 

* map,' ' mab,' and is sometimes written ' ab.' It is con- 
nected with the Goidelic or Gaelic ' mac' For daughter, 
following John Williams, the contraction 'vz,' which comes 
from ' verch ' or ' ferch,' meaning ' daughter,' is used. 

The spelling of place-names has been checked with Professor 
Lloyd's History of Wales, but if errors or inconsistencies 
exist the fault is mine. 

Among the many works to which I am indebted for informa- 
tion, the following have been found particularly useful : 

(i) On the ancient period : Monumenta Historica Britannica, 
Dr. T. R. E. Holmes' Ancient Britain ; Sir John Rhys' Celtic 
Britain and Celtae and Galli ; Professor Haverfield's Military 

xiii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Aspects of Roman Wales ; Sir John Rhys and Sir David 
Brynmor Jones' The Welsh People ; the late Dr. Hodgkin's 
Political History of England, vol. i ; Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson's 
Keltic Researches ; Dr. P. W. Joyce's A Social History of 
Ancient Ireland ; Mr. T. W. RoUeston's Myths and Legends 
of the Celtic Race ; Sir Norman lyockyer's Stonehenge ; Mr. 
E. M. Nelson's The Cult of the Circle-Builders ; M. Roessler 
de Graville's UArt Celtique ; M. Dichelette's Manuel d'Archeo- 
logie prehistorique ; Mr. J. Romilly Allen's Celtic Art in Pagan 
and Christian Times ; and the various antiquarian journals, 
in particular Archceologia, Archceologia Cambrensis, and the 
Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. 

(2) On the middle period : Pre-eminently Professor Lloyd's 
History of Wales, selections from which have been used by 
the courtesy of the author and the publishers, Messrs. 
Longmans, Green, and Co. The Brut y Tywysogion and the 
Annates Cambriae have formed the basis for the whole of 
this period, except the life of Gruffydd ap Cynan, for which 
I have used Hanes Gruffydd ap Cynan (edited by Mr. 
Arthur Jones). Also Sir H. C. Hoare's translation of the 
Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis ; Dr. Henry Owen's Gerald the 
Welshman ; Gualteri Mapes de Nugis, etc. (edited by T. Wright) 
(a later edition, edited by Dr. James, has recently been pub- 
lished) ; Professor Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales ; Mr. 
G. T. Clark's Mediceval Military Architecture ; Sir R. W. 
Payne-Gallwey's Projectile-throwing Engines of the Ancients ; 
Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and Y 
Cymmrodor (particularly Mr. Nicholson's article on Genealogies). 

Upon the Arthurian legends works by the following authors 
have been found of great value : Miss Jessie L. Weston, 
Sir John Rhys, Mr. Alfred Nutt, Dr. Leo Landau, Mr. Stuart 
Glennie, Mr. W. W. Comfort, and Mr. W. H. Dickinson. Lady 
Charlotte Guest's translation of the Mabinogion has been used, 
in conjunction with Mr. Alfred Nutt's Mabinogion and Sir John 
Rhys' articles in the Transactions of the Honourable Society 
of Cymmrodorion. 

(3) On the last period : The Statutes at Large ; the Calendar 
xiv 



PREFACE 

and Patent Rolls ; Sir H. Ellis' Original Letters ; Miss C, A. J. 
Skeel's The Council of the Marches in Wales ; Mr. J. A. 
Wylie's History of England under Henry IV (and the recently 
published part on Henry V) ; Thomas Pennant's Tours in 
Wales ; Mr, A. G. Bradley's Owen Glyndwr ; ' Owen Rhos- 
comyl's ' article in the Transactions of the Honourable Society 
of Cymmrodorion ; Sir John Rhys and Sir David Brynmor 
Jones' The Welsh People ; David Bowel's Historic of Cambria ; 
Mr. H. T. Evans' History of England and Wales ; Mr. O. M. 
Edwards' Wales ; ' Maelog's ' Poems of Davyth ap Gwilym ; 
Edward Jones' Poetical Relicks of Welsh Bards ; and the Rev. 
W, M. Morris' The Renaissance of Welsh Literature. 

For the Note on coins Sir John Evans' British Coins has 
been almost entirely relied upon. On the laws of Wales, to 
which some prominence is given, the Ancient Laws and Insti- 
tutes of Wales (Record Commission) , together with Mr. Frederick 
Seebohm's Tribal System in Wales, have been mainly used. 

I must express my thanks to the Right Honourable Ellis J. 
Grifl&th, K.C., M.P., for his Introduction to the book ; the 
Right Honourable Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., K.C., for 
permission to use parts of certain articles which had appeared 
from my pen in the Law Quarterly Review ; Mr. J. Travis 
Mills, M.A., for much helpful criticism when the work was in 
proof stage and before ; Professor Haverfield for permission to 
use his map of Roman Wales; Major-General Sir Francis Lloyd, 
D.S.O., for permission to reproduce the portrait of Humphrey 
Llwyd in his possession ; Mr. John Ballinger, M.A., Librarian 
of the National Library of Wales, for help in obtaining a 
reproduction of the twelfth-century Grail manuscript and for 
various suggestions as to other illustrations ; Mr. C, C. Wood 
for help in revising the proofs and in compiling the Index ; the 
Assistants in the Coin and Manuscript Departments of the 
British Museum for making casts of coins and adding identi- 
fying notes thereon, and for making casts of seals ; and, finally, 
my wife for much help and assistance, 

GILBERT STONE 

IvONDON, 19 1 5 

XV 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Origins i 

Pre-Glacial Period : Neolithic Man : Pre-Goidelic 
Races : Life of Neolithic Man : The Bronze-users : 
The Goidels. 

II. The Circles and the Druids 15 

The Circles : By whom Built : Astronomical Data : 
Mathematical Evidence : Antiquarian Considerations : 
Mythological and Religious Considerations : Folk 
Practices : Philological Evidence : Utility of the 
Circles : The Druids : Degeneration of the Druids : The 
Later Druids. 

III. The Brythonic Conquest 36 

The Brythonic Invasion : Description of the Brythons : 
Brythonic or Late Celtic Art : Domestic Arrange- 
ments of the Brythons : Nature of the Brythons. 

IV. The Roman Occupation 48 

Caesar's Two Landings : Roman Wars in Britain : 
Caratacus : Boadicea : Agricola : Pacification of Wales : 
Roman Forts : The Influence of Roman Civilization 
on Britain : Roman Roads : Roman Pottery and 
Remains : Famous Romans in Britain. 

V. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion 67 

Commencement of Saxon Invasion : Maximus, or 
Maxen Wledig : Vortigem : Scots from Ireland : 
Weakness of Britain : The Saxon Attack : Results of 
Saxon Invasion : Important Battles : The Hallelujah 
Victory : Battle of Mount Badon : Deorham : Battle of 
Chester. 

VI The Birth of the Cymry 81 

Cunedda Wledig : Vortigern : Dyfnwal Moelmud : 
Maelgwn Gwynedd : Weakness of the Welsh Tribal 
System : Arthur : Votepori : Gildas the Reformer : The 
Struggle with Bernicia : Rhun : Cadvan : Cadwallawn : 
Cadwaladr. 

b xvii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VII The Sociai. Condition of Pre-Norman Wales ioo 

Generalities : Welsh System of Land-tenure : 
Organization of the Tribe : Political Divisions : 
Status : The Bard : Welsh Druidism : Everyday Life 
of the Cymry : Domestic Architecture : Cures and 
Cunning : Valuations. 

^ VIII. Welsh Laws and Customs 123 

The Welsh Laws : Position of Women : Law of Contract : 
Procedure : Criminal Law : Rules relating to Fire. 

IX. The Period of the Princes (from the 
Death of Cadwaladr to the Accession of 
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn) 139 

Scantiness of Authorities : Ivor and Rhodri Molwynog : 
Conan and Howel : Merfyn Frych : Rhodri Mawr : 
The ' Black Pagans ' : Anarawd, Cadell, and Merfyn : 
Alfred and the Danes : Howel Dha : Owain ap Howel : 
Maredudd ap Owain : Llywelyn ap Seisyll. 

X. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn 168 

Parentage and Character : Struggle for Deheubarth : 
Gruffydd Supreme in Wales : Decline in Power : 
Results of his Reign : Revival of the Arts. 

XI From the Death of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn 

TO the Death of Owain of Powys 179 

Wales disrupted : The Normans : Bleddyn ap 
Cynvyn : Gruffydd ap Cjman and Trahaearn : Rhys 
ap Owain : Rhys ap Tewdwr : The Powysian Anarchy : 
Owain and Nest : Cadwgan and lorwerth : Madog. 

>^ XII. The Welsh Romances 201 

The Arthurian Legends : Origin : Dissemination : 
Lancelot and Peredur : Historical Values : The Rise of 
Chivalry. 

XIII. The Norman Castles 221 

Influence on Welsh History : The Castle : Castle 
Architecture : The Motte : The Stone Castle : The 
Shell Keep : The Rectangular Keep : The Donjon 
Keep or JuHet : Methods of Attack : Engines of War. 

XIV Gruffydd ap Cynan 245 

In Ireland : The First Expedition : Second Expedi- 
tion : Third Expedition : Gruffydd a Prisoner : Fourth 
Expedition : Fifth Expedition : WilUam Rufus invades 
North Wales : Conflict with the Marcher Lords : 
GrufEydd's Rise to Power : Later Years. 

xviii 



CONTENTS 

HAPTER PAGE 

XV. OWAIN GWYNKDD 259 

Attacks upon the South Wales Marchers : Gruffydd ap 
Rhys : Renewed Welsh Attacks : Conflicts between the 
Welsh : Owain's Successes against Stephen : Conflict 
with Henry II : Position in South Wales : Powys : 
Henry's Third Expedition : Welsh Successes. 

XVI. Thp: Lord Rhys 278 

Rise to Power : Conflict with England : Henry II 
advances into Wales : Power of Rhys established : A 
Patron of the Arts : Maelgwn : Position of Wales after 
the Death of Henry : Gwenwynwyn and I^lywelyn. 

XVII. Geoffrey, Wai^ter, and Geraed 290 

Geoffrey of Monmouth : Walter Map : The GoUards : 
Giraldus Cambrensis : Fight for St. David's : His 
Character and East Days : His Description of the 
Welsh. 

XVIII. Leyweeyn the Gre.\t 303 

Elywelyn's Rise to Power : John and Elywelyn : 
The Campaign of 121 5 : Elywelyn Eeader of the 
Welsh : The de Breoses : Elywelyn Supreme : 
Elywelyn and William Marshal : Friendship and 
Enmity : Elywelyn's East Years. 

XIX. The Downfaee 329 

General Considerations : David and Gruffudd 
David's Death : The Rise of Elywelyn ap Gruffudd 
Elywelyn Prince of Wales : The Peace of Montgomery 
The Treaty of Conway, or Aberconway : The Rising 
of 1282 : The Edwardian Conquest. 

XX. From the Conquest to Owain Geyndwr 350 

statute of Rhuddlan : Revolt : Madog : Peace : 
Elywelyn Bran : The Black Death : The Poets of 
the Fourteenth Century : Davydd ap Gwilym : lolo 
Goch : The Peasants. 

XXI. OwAiN Geyndwr 369 

Birth and Early Years : Eord Grey of Ruthin : Owain 
in Arms : The Alliance : Battle of Shrewsbury : South 
Wales and the French : Owain's Decline : East Days. 

XXII. Waees AND Engeand United 391 

General Sketch of the Period from Owain to the 
Present Day : War and Eawlessness : Wars of the 
Roses : Union and Eaw : The Act of Union : Parlia- 
mentary Representation : The Renaissance : The 
Civil War : 'The Nonconformists : Conclusion. 

xix 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PACE 

Note a. Barrows, Cromi^echs, Doi^mens, and Gor- 

SEDDS 409 

The Long Barrow : Cromlechs, Dohnens, Gorsedds : 
The Round Barrow 

Note B. Coins 415 

Romano-British Coins : British Coins : (a) Unin- 
scribed ; [b) Inscribed : Welsh and Norman Coins. 

Note C. Welsh Musical Instruivients 421 

The Harp : TheCrwth : The Pib-corn, etc. : Giraldus 
on Welsh Music. 

Welsh Seals 427 

Selection oe Important Dates 429 

Index 433 



XX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

MAPS 

PAGB 

CoAST-I,INE OF WAI.es IN THE NEOI^ITHIC AGE 3 

Roman Waxes 48 ' 

Humphrey lyi^wYo's Map of Waives 156' 

Waives showing the Sites of its Casti^es 222 ' 

PLATES 

PLATE 

The Wei^sh Bard Frontispiece 

1. Figurine de Brassempouy 4- 

From L'Art Celtique, by Charles Roessler, and described by 
him at pp. 44 et seq. It was discovered in 1894 by 
MM. Roessler and de I<aporterie at Brassempouy. 
M. Roessler, though he admits that the style of hair- 
dressing is Egyptian, says that the face (which is that 
of a woman) is not typical of that people, but woiild 
rather seem to belong to a Mongolian race. The head 
is very brachycephaUc. M. Roessler dates it as belong- 
ing to the somewhat vague period known as the 
Quaternary. When found it lay 3 m. 80 c. under the 
surface of the soil. The figurine is carved from a 
piece of ivory, and it may be that it represents a type 
present in this island in Neolithic times. Near it lay, 
among other bones, some rhinoceros teeth. Mammoth 
teeth were also found near by. 

2. Arrow- and IvAnce-heads of Chipped Fi,int 6- 

Found in Scotland, and now in the British Museum. 

3. F1NE1.Y WORKED Stone Hammer-head 8' 

Probably of the Neolithic period ; so symmetrically cut 
that it would be beyond the skill of any modern flint- 
worker to chip it. Reproduction from the cast in 
the British Museum. Found at Maesmore, Corwen, 
Merionethshire. 

xxi 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PLATE PAGE 

4. Bronze Pai^stavb, Torc, Armi^ets, and Rings 10 

Pound in 1825 together at Hollingbury Hill, near Stanmer, 
Sussex. The two spiral rings, when found, were 
threaded on the torc. Several armlets of gold have at 
various times been dug up. The present group is 
described in the Archesological Journal, vol. v, p. 323, 
where they are attributed to the Bronze Age. 

5. (i) Bronze Pan 12 

Found at Aylesford. Of fine workmanship, and belonging 
probably to the I<ate Celtic period. Described in A rchcso- 
logia, vol. lii, p. 378. In the British Museum. 

(2) A THIN Bronze VESSEiy 12 

It at one time had handles. Found at the entrance to the 
earthworks called ' The Berth,' Baschurch, Salop. 
It probably belongs to the early Iron Age. It may have 
been used as a water-clock, for, owing to its thinness 
and the fact that the bottom is pierced with a small 
hole, it would slowly fill if placed on the surface of 
water. When a certain mark was reached it would then 
be refloated by an attendant. This system of telUng 
the time is known to have been practised in India and 
Ceylon. In the British Museum. 

6 Cinerary Vase 14 

Found in 1886 with many others in the famous Late Celtic 
Urn Field at Aylesford, Kent, and described in Archcso- 
logia, vol. lii, p. 329. It is of fine clay covered with 
brown-coloured ' varnish.' The foot or pedestal is an 
unusual feature. Height, 14 in. In the British Museum. 

7. BAS-RElylEF REI.ATING TO THE TEMPI^E OF SiPPAR 18 

Made by Nabu-Pal-Iddina, king of Babjdon, about 870 B.C., 
to record his restoration of the Temple of the Sun-god 
at Sippar. It represents Baal enthroned, and shows 
symbolically the three sacred numbers 3, k, and 7. 
The three discs at the top represent the Moon, Sun, 
and Venus. The god holds a rod and ring, repre- 
senting the sacred number k. The relief was protected 
by terra-cotta coverings, on the back of one of which is 
an inscription of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon 625-604 
B.C. It is described by Professor King in his monograph 
Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British 
Museum. In the British Museum. 

8. Assyrian Boundary Stone 20 

Showing a symbolism not dissimilar from that in Plate 7, 
Fvdly described, with inscription translated, by Pro- 
fessor King in his monograph Boundary Stones and 
Memorial Tablets in the British Museum. In the British 
Museum. 

xxii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE PAGfi 

9. Entrance to the Tumui^us at New Grange, 

IreivAnd 22 , 

This Neolithic burial-place is in many ways re-jiarkable. 
In size the mound is 280 feet wide and 44 feet high. It 
is of the chambered type, and the dead whose remains 
it covered were placed in stone sarcophagi. These 
were ransacked by the Danes. The large stone shown 
lying on its side at the entrance is covered with spiral 
markings not dissimilar from those found on the chalk 
objects shown in Plate 10 and on many other Neolithic 
remains. Inside the tomb a solar ship roughly scratched 
on the walls has been discovered. 

10. FooD-vEssEi< AND Cover AND Three Chai,k Objects 24 - 

From Neolithic or early Bronze Age barrows. The food- 
vessel was found at Canton, East Riding of Yorkshire. 
In these food-vessels, which are commonly found in the 
barrows, remains of animal and vegetable foods have 
been discovered. The three lower objects are of chalk, 
and come from a child's tomb in Yorkshire. They 
may have been used as idols. They are ornamented with 
the usual spiral markings, and if the smallest of the 
three be examined a rude representation of a human 
face will be seen. Schliemann found somewhat similar 
markings on vases at Hissarlik. The style of the 
carving recalls Neolithic and Bronze Age antiquities 
from the Mediterranean area. These objects are described 
in ArchcBologia, vol. lii, p. 25, where they are assigned 
to the Bronze Age. In the British Museum. 

11. Bronze Impi^ements, Spear-heads, etc. 38 - 

From Ty Mawr, Holyhead Moxmtain. They were found 
with certain other remains in 1832, and are interesting 
because the type is very similar to those found in Ireland. 
The whole find is fully described in the Archceological 
Journal, vol. xxiv, pp. 253 et seq. In the British 
Museum. 

12. Bronze Mirror 40 

Foimd about 1833 at Trelan, Bahow, parish of St. Keverne, 
Cornwall, in a stone grave, with beads, armlets, and 
other personal ornaments. It belongs to the I^ate 
Celtic period. It is circular in form, 6 in. in diameter, 
with an elegantly designed handle projecting 2^ in. 
from the edge. When found one side was still quite 
brightly polished. Both sides of the mirror are flat; 
one is engraved with a pattern typical of the period. 
It is described, together with other mirrors of a like 
period, in the Archceological Journal, vol. xxx, p. 267. 
There is a very similar mirror in the Mayer Museum, 
lYiverpool. In the British Museum. 

xxiii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PLATE PAGE 

13. Bronzk and Enamki. Shiei^d 42 

Found in the river Witham, LincolnsWre. This and an 
equally fine shield found in the Thames, near Battersea, 
have been described as the most beautiful examples of 
Late Celtic art which have come down to us. The 
shield illustrated is noticeable both for its artistic 
design and its workmanship. It is decorated with 
coral studs. The Battersea shield, on the other hand, 
is ornamented with red enamel and repouss6 work ; 
the enamel is still perfect, though the colour appears 
to have faded somewhat. Enamelling seems to have 
been very popular with the Brito-Romans, and in the 
Shrewsbury Museum a large cake of blue enamel found 
at Viroconium is to be seen. The present shield may 
date from a period anterior to the coming of the Romans. 
In the British Museum. 

14. The AY1.ESFORD Paii, 44 

So called from the place where found. Probably the wooden 
part was originally of ash, and would be bound together 
by the bronze bands, the upper one of which is well 
ornamented in the Late Celtic style. The part which 
connects the handle to the pail will be observed to be 
fashioned in the form of a head, a somewhat unusual 
form in Late Celtic work. The pail is now in the British 
Museum, and is described in ArchcBologia, vol. lii, 
p. 361. 

15. A Bilingual Inscription found at Nevern, 

Pembrokeshire 46 ' 

Above the inscription is in Roman characters, below in 
Ogham writing. It has recently been described by 
Sir John Rhys, in Archceologia Cambrensis, 6th Series, 
vol. xiii, pp. 376 et seq. Reference may also be made 
to the epigraphic notes of the same Writer in Arckcsologia 
Cambrensis, 5th Series, vol. xiii, pp. 98 ei seq., and his 
table of Oghams and debased Latin capitals at pp. 297 
et seq. of the same volume. The reading of the Ogham 
in the present inscription is " Maglicunas maqi 
Clutar . . ." ; the stone then breaks off. It was doubt- 
less a monument to the Goidel Maglocu (or in its Latin 
form Maglocunus), the son of Clutorios. 

16. General View of the Excavations round 

THE Basilica of Viroconium (Uriconium, 
Wroxeter) 54 

In the left-hand foreground are the remains of the hypocaust 
of the baths. This city was of considerable size, with 
a circumference of some miles and stretching at least 
from Wroxeter to the Severn. The ruins, which are 
some seven miles from Wellington, in Shropshire, are 
being slowly opened up. Already part of a street, 
XX iv 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE PAGE 

showing shops and a blacksmith's forge, has been 
iinearthed, besides the town hall and baths. Among the 
ruins many objects of Samian, Upchurch, Roman- 
Salopian, and common ware have been found, also glass 
vessels, jewellery, tombstones, etc. One of the most 
interesting finds was an oculist's seal, now in the Shrews- 
bury Museum. 

17. Skated Figure of a Goddess 56 - 

Found, together with the sculptured head of a god, at 
Caerwent, Monmouthshire, in 1908. Carved out of local 
yellow sandstone, it is probably the work of a local 
sculptor, as has been stated by M. Esp^randieu and 
the learned writers in Archcsologia, vol. Ixii (i), where, 
at p. 16, it is described. It is not unUke the Gallo- 
Roman figures found in France. 

18. Caerwent : The Round Tempi^e 58 

Showing the outer wall and east gate, looking north. This 
interesting Roman ruin was discovered by accident by 
some workmen digging for stone in September 191 2. 
Some skeletons found in it, evidently of corpses flung 
there when the temple was already in ruins, probably 
speak of some Saxon raid. The excavations are described 
by Mr. A. E. Hudd, F.S.A., in Archcsologia, vol. Ixiv, pp. 
437 et seq. 

19. BlIvINGUAE SEPUI^CHRAI, MONUMENT 60 

Dedicated by Barate, a Pahnyrean or Syrian, to his British 
wife Regina, formerly a freedwoman and of the race 
of the Catuvellauni. She died at the age of thirty years. 
Regina is elegantly gowned, and has her jewel-box by 
her side. Below the I^atin inscription the husband has 
had written in the characters of his native land the 
short sentence ; " Regina, the freedwoman of Barate, 
alas ! " The monument is now in the South Shields 
Museum, and we are indebted to the Secretary of the 
PubUc I/ibrary for the photograph from which this 
reproduction has been made. 

20. Roman Mii^estone 62' 

Found at Rhiwiau, I^lanfairfechan, co. Carnarvon. It bears 
the name of the Emperor Hadrian, and was originally 
set up some eight miles from the Roman station of 
Canovium in A.D. 121-122. In the British Museum. 

21. BxAMPi^ES OP Samian Ware and Roman Cut Gi.ass 64 

No. I (numbering from left to right, down) : A Gaulish 
bowl made by the potter Divixtus at I^ezouz, Puy-de- 
Dome. It was found at Castor, Northants. It belongs 
to the latter part of the first century. The decoration 
consists of panels containing human figures; the 
modelling is vigorous. The type is No. 30. No. 2 : 

XXV 



HISTORY OF WALES 

FLATS _ PAGE 

Gaulish bowl made by the potter Cmnamus at Lezouz. 
Period, middle of the second century. Found at 
Lincoln. The decoration takes the form of medallions 
and standing figures. Type No. 37. No. 4 : Gaulish 
bowl made by the potter Meddilus, from La Graufesenque, 
Aveyron. Period, late first century. Found near 
London. The formal decoration is lightened with 
figures of men and animals. Type No. 29. No. 5 : 
A very beautiful Gaulish vase, made at Lezouz. Period, 
third century. Found at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Orna- 
mented with slip and moulded decorations. Type 
No. 37. A large number of fragments of Samian and 
other ware have been found at Viroconium, and bear the 
marks of a considerable number of potters. No. 3 : 
This rare cup of cut glass comes from a Roman cemetery 
at Barnwell, Cambridgeshire. All these objects are in 
the British Museum. 

22. Roman Jug 66 

An elegant example of the more common Roman glass. It 
was found in a grave at Bayford-next-Sittingbourne, 
Kent. It is of pale olive-green glass. Height, 9^ in. 
It is described in Archcsologia Cantiana, vol. xvi, p. 2. 
In the British Museum. 

23. Eliseg's Pillar 84 

Seen from the Concenn Inscription side and with the pro- 
tecting railings removed. It is fully described by Sir 
John Rhys in his article All Around the Wrekin, in 
Y Cymmrodor, vol. xxi, pp. 39 et seq. Concenn was 
possibly the son of Cadell, king of Powys c. 800. In 
the inscription as preserved by Bdward Lhuyd, the 
antiquary, who read it in 1696, we find Cadell given 
as the son of Brochmail, the son of Eliseg. 

24. The Round Table at Winchester Hall 90 

Possibly that referred to by Caxton in his Introduction to 
Malory's Morte d' Arthur. 

25. Facsimile of F. 49B MS. Cotton. Vitell. cm 

(British Museum) 118 

The work from which this portion of a page is reproduced 
deals with leechdoms, wort-cunning, and star-craft, 
and has been edited by Cockayne. It forms three 
volumes in the Rolls Series. Although a work con- 
cerned primarily with the cures and cunning of the 
Saxons, it is a valuable contribution to our knowledge 
of the social condition of this island in the tenth century. 
Immediately above the drawing of a snake appears the 
word tlaebpe- The sentence below, beginning with 
the words PI'S nsebpan, may be translated as follows : 
" For bite of snake, this wort, which we named cyno- 
glossum, is of good advantage, pounded and swallowed 

xxvi 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PtATE PACK 

in wine." The next paragraph gives a cure for a quartan 
ague, etc. Besides cures the work contains much 
information relating to foods, mode of life, etc., in those 
times. 

26. CKI.TIC Cross in IvLAnbadarn Fawr Churchyard 120- 

This cross of grey granite is perhaps the finest example of 
an old Celtic cross in Wales. In its present condition 
it stands some 8 feet above the ground. One panel 
contains a rude representation of a human figure, 
probably some Churchman, for the right hand appears 
to be raised as in the act of benediction, and in the left 
hand there would appear to be a pastoral staff. There is 
another ancient stone monument in the same churchyard, 
and popular legend informs us that they were the stone 
flails of Archbishop Sampson. A full account of these 
early Christian Celtic crosses will be found in ArchcBO- 
logia Cambrensis, 5th Series, vol. xvi, pp. i et seq. 

27. St, Winifred's (or Wknefrkde's) Wei.1. 136" 

This well, which gives its name to Holywell, is named 
after the virgin Wenefrede, who lived, according to 
tradition, in the seventh century. She was sister to 
St. Beuno, under whose care she was placed. A 
neighbouring prince, won by her beauty, was con- 
sumed with passion for her, and when she refused to 
gratify his desires he drew his sword and struck off her 
head. The story proceeds to tell us that the prince 
(Caradoc) instantly fell down dead and was swallowed 
up by the earth. The head, rolhng down the hill upon 
which the tragedy had occurred, stopped near St. 
Beuno 's Church, and from the spot where it rested a 
spring of pure water with wonderful healing qualities 
burst forth. The tale ends on a happy note, for we are 
told that St. Beuno, taking the head, united it to the 
body and his sister returned to life. For further details 
reference may be made to Pennant's Tours in Wales, 
vol. i, p. 44. 

28. Offa's Dike 144. 

The Fosse is seen on the left. One of the earliest references 
to the Dike occurs in Asser's Life of Alfred : " Fuit in 
Mercia moderno tempore quidam strenuus, atque universis 
circa se regibus et regionibus finitimis formidolosus 
rex, nomine Offa : qui vallum magnum inter Britanniam 
atque Merciam de mari usque ad mare facere imperavit." 

29. REMAJNS of THE IvATER CASTI.E OF DEGANWY I48 

Deganwy was for centuries the seat of the royal house of 
Cunedda, and was the favourite stronghold of Maelgwn 
Gwynedd in the sixth century. The castle, of which 
only ruins now remain, is of course of much later date. 
The ancient hold was abandoned, and is said to have 
been struck by lightning in 8 1 2 . The castle was destroyed 

xxvii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

flATK PAGE 

by the Knglish in 822, but was restored by Hugh the 
Fat, Earl of Chester, and was occupied by Robert of 
Rhuddlan. It fell into the hands of I^lywelyn the Great 
in 1200, and was destroyed and rebuilt in 1210. It 
was again destroyed, to be again rebuilt by Henry III 
in 1245. In 1263 it was captured by Ivlywel}'n ap 
Gruffudd, and passed from him finally at the time of 
the Edwardian Conquest. 

30. Map of Waives by Humphrey I^ewyd 156 

Humphrey Elwyd, the eminent Welsh physician and 
antiquary, lived 1527-1568. Perhaps this was one of 
the maps which he dedicated and sent to OrteUus when 
on his deathbed, accompanying the gift with a letter, 
dated August 3, 1568. For a portrait of lylwyd see 
Plate 55. 

31. The Water Tower and Wai,i.s, Chester 176 

This picture is given the particular place it occupies in this 
book not because the walls ilhistrated belong to the 
early years of the Norman Conquest, but because it was 
from Chester that the first great efilort was made by 
the Normans at the subjugation of Wales. The same 
remark applies to the next Plate. 

32. Rhuddi^an CaSTIvE 186 

Robert of Rhuddlan was one of the first of the Normans 
to estabUsh a footing in North Wales. The present 
castle, however, belongs to a much later period, the 
first steps toward its building having probably been 
taken by Edward I, c. 1277. The foundation of Flint 
Castle belongs to the same year. 

33. The SepuIvChrai. Urn which Contained the Ashes 

OF Bronwen 204 

This urn was discovered in a grave on the banks of the Alaw, 
in Anglesey, in 1813, at the place called Ynys Bronwen 
(Bronwen's Isle). Sir R. C. Hoare, in a communication 
to the Cambro-Briton, vol. ii, p. 71, refers to it as fol- 
lows : "A farmer . . . having occasion for stones . . . 
and having observed a stone or two peeping through 
the turf of a circular elevation on a flat not far from the 
river [Alaw], was induced to examine it, when, after 
paring off the turf, he came to a considerable heap of 
stones, or carnedd, covered with earth, which he removed 
with some degree of caution, and got to a cist formed of 
coarse flags canted and covered over. On removing 
the Lid, he found it contained an urn placed with its 
mouth downwards, full of ashes and half-calcined 
fragments of bone." The learned antiquary then calls 
our attention to the passage in the Mabinogion : "A 
square grave was made for Bronwen, the daughter of 
I/lyr, on the banks of the Alaw, and there she was 
buried." Bran wen (or Bronwen), ' the White-bosomed,' 
xxviii 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE PAGE 

is a heroine of one of the best known of Welsh stories, 
and is famed for her charms and her woes. Davydd ap 
Gwilym, in addressing his inamorata Morvydd, likens 
her fairness to that of Bronwen. The urn is now in the 
British Museum. 

34. PAGK from " YSTORYAEU SKINT GrEAI, " 210 

The Ystoryaeu Seint Greal (Peniarth MS. No. 11, formerly 
Hengwrt MS. 49) is the earliest known Welsh Graal MS 
It is now in the National Library of Wales, to which 
it (among other MSS. and books) was presented by 
Sir John WilHams. Lady Charlotte Guest, in her 
Mabinogion, states that this manuscript (which was 
then at Hengwrt) dates back to the time of Henry I. 
The manuscript is described in the Historical Manu- 
scripts Commission's Report on Manuscripts in the 
Welsh Language, vol. i, pp. 321-322 (1899), and has been 
edited and printed by Canon Williams in Selections 
from the Hengwrt Manuscripts, vol. i, Y Seint Greal, 
pubhshed in 1876. The page shown is t. 26 v. Re- 
produced by the courtesy of Sir John Williams, G.C.V.O., 
and Mr. John Ballinger, M.A . 

35. The Building of Hastings Castle 226 

From the Bayeux Tapestry. Reproduced in Archceologia, 
vol. Iviii, p. 323, from Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vi. 
Mr. Round, in his article The Castles of the Conquest, 
refers to this as " the priceless witness of the Bayeux 
Tapestry " to show that William the Conqueror, after 
he landed in England, threw up as defence works 
mounds of the motte type. 

36. Caerphilly Castle 234 

From G. T. Clark's A Description of the Castles of Kidwelly 
and Caerphilly. Also described in the same writer's 
MedicBval Military Architecture, vol. i, p. 315. There 
he says, inter alia : " Caerphilly is by very much the 
most extensive castle in Wales, and is reputed to cover, 
with its outworks and earthworks, about thirty acres." 
An imaginative illustration drawn by H. Gastineau 
appears in Woodward's History of Wales, at p. 470. 

37. Kidwelly (Cydweli) Castle 236' 

From G. T. Clark's A Description of the Castles of Kidwelly 
and Caerphilly. Also described by the same author in 
his Medicsval Military Architecture, vol. ii, p. 153. The 
castle stands from 80 to 100 feet above the river — shown 
to the right of the picture — on the right bank. The 
river-banks are here steep and rocky, a fact which does 
not sufficiently appear in the drawing. 

38. Attack on a Castle 238 - 



The drawing shows the use of the ferebra in an attack upon 
a castle, and the means adopted to protect the attackers 



XXIX 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PLA** PAGE 

from the arrows, Greek fire, and stones hurled or shot 
from the castle walls or brattices by the defenders. 
From In Feudal Times, by E. M. Tappan, Ph.D. 

39. Prnmon Church and Priory 256 

Gruffydd ap Cynan on his death left to this Norman church 
at Penmon, among many others, money for its better 
upkeep. Perhaps in his day it was one of those lime- 
washed buildings with which, as his biographer puts 
it, Gwynedd was decked as is the firmament with stars. 
The modern church appears to be a somewhat common- 
place structure. The priory is shortly described by 
Pennant in Tours in Wales, vol. iii, p. 35. 

40. BasingwKrk Absey 262 

This Cistercian abbey was founded by Ranulf of Chester in 
1 131. Originally a house of the Order of Savigny, it 
later became attached to the Order of Citeaux. If 
Dugdale's date be correct, it would seem to have been one 
of the earliest of the foreign monasteries in Wales. It 
was certainly founded before 1137* 

41. The Gateway, Strata Fi,orida Abbey 286 

Ystrad Fflur Abbey, or, to give it its I/atinized name. Strata 
Florida — in English ' the Vale of Flowers ' — was 
founded in 1164 by the banks of the Fflur, on land 
which had been given by Robert fitz Stephen. It was 
increased in wealth by the Lord Rhys, as a result of 
which the present building was commenced on the 
banks of the Teifi. It is probable that at least one of 
the Welsh chronicles was kept by the ecclesiastics of 
this religious house. 

42 Geoffrey's Window, Monmouth 292 

This window, now part of the school attached to the parish 
church of Monmouth, is by tradition that of the cell 
in which Geoffrey of Monmouth, Milton's "soothest- 
shepherd," whose claims to be regarded as a serious 
historian were finally destroyed by Polydore Vergil, 
composed his British history. It is described in 
Archcsologia Cambrensis, 6th Series, vol. ix, p. 27, where 
its period is said to be the fifteenth century. 

43. Rums OF THE Bishop's Pai^ace, St. David's 298 

The palace has been described as a structure of a single date 
and style. Its founder. Bishop Gower, held the see 
from 1328 to 1347. The style of the palace is therefore 
Decorated. It has also been said to be unsurpassed 
by any existing English edifice of its kind. W. Basil 
Jones and E. A. Freeman, in their work The History 
and Antiquities of St. David's, speak thus of it : "One 
can hardly conceive any structure that mor^ com- 
pletely proclaims its peculiar purpose ; it is essentially 
a palace and not a castle. . . . The prominent points 
XXX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE PAGE 

are the superb rose-window of the hall, and the graceful 
spire of the chapel, importing an abode, not of warfare, 
but of hospitality and religion. Of domestic work so 
strictly ecclesiastical but few examples remain." 

44. lyl^ANBADARN P'^AWR 302 

Mediaeval tradition, voiced by Giraldus Cambrensis, alleged 
that lylanbadarn Fawr was once a cathedral church. 
E. A. Freeman, however, in Arckcsologia Cambrensis 
(3rd Series, vol. ii, p. 224), has appropriately grouped 
it among the smaller cruciform churches. He refers 
to it as " the noble fabric of Llanbadarn-fawr, near 
Aberystwyth." An engraving appears in Petit's Church 
Architecture. 

45. ClIvGERRAN CaSTI^E 3x4 

This castle occupies an exceedingly strong position upon a 
high ridge of land jutting out into the valiey of the 
Teifi. On one side is a deep ravine, on the other steep 
cliffs. According to Clark, " though it might be called 
technically an Edwardian castle [it] was, like others, 
of rather earlier date than Edward I." Of course a 
castle existed at Cilgerran long before the time of 
Edward I, for in the middle of the twelfth century it 
was a stronghold of the Carew family. Under John 
the lordship of Emlyn, and with it Cilgerran Castle, 
passed from the Carews, and in 1204 we find William 
Marshal obtaining possession of Cilgerran. I^ater, 
under Llywelyn the Great, it was granted to Maelgwn, 
but was regained by the Earl Marshal in 1223. Its 
subsequent history is not important. In 1863 a con- 
siderable portion of the breastwork fronting the river 
fell down, and later the building was still further ruined 
owing to an immense fall of masonry consequent upon 
quarrying operations near by. It has since been the 
object of a grant from the Cambrian Archaeological 
Association. Cilgerran is not described in either G. T. 
Clark's Mediceval Military Architecture or A. Hamilton 
Thompson's Military Architecture, but has been shortly 
considered in Archcsologia Cambrensis (3rd Series, vol. v, 
p. 340 ; vol. ix, p. 345). It has been the subject of a 
painting by Turner, 

46. SEAI, OF IvI.YWEI.YN THE GrEAT 318 

Photograph from a cast of the seal, now in the British Museum. 
Mr. de Gray Birch, in his Catalogue of Seals in the British 
Museum, has thus described it : " Creamy- white ; fine, 
but very imperfect. About 3J in. when perfect. Obv. 
To the r. In armour : hauberk, surcoat, round helmet, 
broad sword in r. h. and scabbard at the waist, shield 
slvmg by a strap over the r. shoulder. Horse gallop- 
ing, with saddle, breast-band, and reins. [Legend :] 
+ SIG . . . I,IE. Rev. A small oval coxmter-seal. 

xxxi 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PLATE 

With mark of the handle, ij x i in. Impression 
of an antique oval intaglio gem. A boar passant to 
the r. under a tree. [Legend :] + SiGli,l,VM SERCETVM 
I,EWI<I^^." It is attached to Cott., ch. xxiv, 17. 

47. Montgomery Castle 

As in the case of many other ruins of "Welsh castles, it is by- 
no means certain what is the precise history of this 
building, now fallen to decay. New Montgomery was 
built during the reign of Henry III, but old Montgomery 
has a much more ancient history, having probably been 
founded by Baldwin in the early years of William the 
Conqueror's reign. Subsequently Roger de Montgomery 
made it his stronghold, but toward the end of the 
eleventh century it was taken by the Welsh. It was 
rebuilt by the Montgomerys, and was subsequently 
frequently attacked. The new castle, commenced 
about October 1223, was later granted to Hubert de 
Burgh. It was taken by Llywelyn the Great, and 
in the fourteenth century was in the hands of the 
Mortimer family. In the Civil Wars it was seized by 
Sir Thomas Myddleton, and withstood a siege by the 
Royalists, being subsequently reUeved by the Parlia- 
mentarians after a bloody but decisive struggle. It 
was later dismantled, and to-day exists only as a complete 
ruin. 

48. The Coffin of IvLywelyn the Great, IvLAnrwst 

Church 

The Church of Llanrwst (probably named after a Welsh 
St. Fergus or Grwst) contains many brasses and tombs, 
among others several brasses of the Wynn family aaid 
the tomb of Howel Coytmor. Pennant, in his Tours 
in Wales (vol. ii, p. 305), also tells us that " in this 
church is preserved the stone coffin of Llewelyn the 
Great, with the sides curiously cut into quatrefoils. 
That prince was interred in Conwy Abby ; but at the 
dissolution the coffin was removed to this place." 

49. Queen Eleanor's Chamber, Conway Castle 

Conway Castle, built by Edward I, was commenced in 1283, 
and several years were occupied in erecting it. It would 
seem that the window seen through the archway, which 
lit the chamber of Queen Eleanor, was of painted glass, 
such as is described in the poem The Squire of Low Degree, 
when, speaking of the Eling of Hungary's daughter, the 
poet says : 

" In her oryall there she was 
Closyd well with royall glas ; 
Fulfylled yt was with ymagery." 

50. Caernarvon Castle 

This castle was commenced a few months after Conway, and 
was probably designed by the same architect. It has 

xxxii 



PAGE 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE PAGE 

been described as undoubtedly the chief of the three 
greatest military works executed by Edward I (G. T. 
Clark, MedicBval Military Architecture, vol. i, p. 309). 
No castle in Britain is more uniformly and skilfully 
designed, and none has survived the ravages of Time 
more successfully. It is built upon the banks of the 
Seiont, near whose waters the Romans placed their 
camp of Segontium. The castle gets its name from the 
fact that it stands on the shores of Arvon, and it is 
placed not far, perhaps, from the earlier Welsh camp of 
Caer-yn -Arvon . 

51. Si5Ai. OP Edward, Prince of Wai^EvS 358 

(Earl of Chester, Count of Ponthieu and Montreuil, eldest 
son of King Edward I, and afterward Edward II.) 
Photo from a cast of the seal, now in the British Museum. 
Mr. de Gray Birch, in his Catalogue of Seals in the British 
Museum, thus describes it : " Plaster casts, from fine 
but chipped impression 3| in. Ob. To the r. In 
armour : hauberk of mail, flowing surcoat, helmet 
with vizor closed, fan plume, sword, shield of arms 
slung by a strap over the r. shoulder. Horse galloping, 
caparisoned and plumed. Arms, England, with a label 
of three points of difference. [I^egend :] Edwardvs 
II<I<VSTRIS REGIS ANGWE FIMVS. Rev. Within a curved 
rosette of eight semicircular cusps, with a sunken trefoil 
in each spandril, and suspended by the strap or guige 
from an oak-tree between two slipped branches of the 
same, a shield of arms : England, with a label of five 
points. IXegend :] [ed]wardvs princepS + wai^lie 
OMES CESTRIE ET PONT . . . IVI." 

52. The Mound where Sycharth stood 370 

53. ' Geyndwr's Prison,' Carrog 382 

54. Tomb of Sir Rhys ap Thomas 394 

In the body of the work we have been able merely to glance 
at Sir Rhys, one of Henry VII's strongest supporters, 
who after a fuU life at court and in the field retired 
to Carew Castle to spend an honourable retirement, 
bearing with him the signal honour of inclusion in the 
Most Noble Order of the Garter. An excellent sketch 
of this worthy from the pen of the late David Jones is 
to be found in Archcsologia Cambrensis, 5th Series, 
vol. ix, pp. 81 et seq., where the text of his will is also 
given. We are told that Sir Rhys was, in accordance with 
the directions contained in his will, buried in the chancel 
of the Church of the Grey Friars at Caermarthen, for he 
had directed that " fyve pounds lands be given to the 
f rdres of Karmerdyn for a chantry then to f ynd two prests 
to pray forme andmy wife for ever." He also made other 
gifts to these friars. The subject of the present illus- 
tration is the tomb which was biiilt in the chancel. It 
bears the efl&gies of Sir Rhys and Dame Jenett, his wife, 
who was probably buried there with her husband. 

c xxxiii 



HISTORY OF WALES 

PLATE PAGE 

55. Portrait of Humphrey Li^wyd 398 

From the picture in the possession of Major-General Sir 
Francis I/loyd, D.SO., by permission. " Humphry L,Iw^d 
was the son and heir of Robert Llwyd, or Lloyd, by Joan, 
daughter of Lewis Pigott. His father was descended 
from an old family called Rosendale, which removed 
from Lancashire in 1297 to Foxhall, near Denbigh, 
and acquired the name of Llwyd by an intermarriage 
with the Llwyds (or Lloyds) of Aston, near Oswestry " 
{Dictionary of National Biography) . For further details 
see the Note to Plate 30. Humphrey Llwyd must be 
carefully distinguished from Bdward Lhuyd (some- 
times spelt ' Llwyd '), the natural son of Bdward Llwyd 
of Llanvorda, near Oswestry, who lived from 1660 to 
1709, and was famous as a Celtic scholar, antiquarian, 
and naturalist. 

56. Oliver Cromwell's Seal, showinCt Five Welsh 

ouarterings 402 

Photograph from a cast of the seal, now in the British 
Museum. Mr. de Gray Birch, in his Catalogue of Seals 
in the British Museum, has thus described it : " Red. 
I in. Oval ; a shield of arms of six quarterings : 
I, Cromwell; 2, Caradoc Vreichfras ; 3, CoUwyn Ap- 
Tangno, Lord of Efionydd ; 4, lestyn Ap-Gwrgant, 
Prince of Glamorgan ; 5, Madoc Ap -Meredith, last 
Prince of Powys ; 6, Murfyn. Crest on helmet, wreath, 
and mantling, a demi-lion rampant, holding fleur-de-lis." 
See also Henfrey's Numismata Cromwelliana. 

57. Harlech Castle 404 

Harlech is a concentric castle of the Edwardian type, and, 
standing as it does on a bold and rugged headland of 
rock which once jutted out into the sea, it must have 
been an extremely difficult fortress to reduce before 
the days of gunpowder. The south-west tower bears 
the name of Bronwen, the Welsh heroine already referred 
to in the note to Plate 33. The castle is described at 
length in G. T. Clark's Medieval Military Architecture 
(vol. ii, p. 74). See also Timbs' Abbeys, Castles, and 
Ancient Halls of England and Wales, vol. ii, p. 457, 
where it is stated that the site was previously occupied 
by a British fortress called Twr Bronwen. The present 
castle was probably built by Edward I some time about 
1286. 

58. The Investiture of the Prince of Wales at 

Carnarvon Castle 406 

It was on Thursday, July 13, 1911, that Edward, seventh 
of his name to bear the title, was made and created 
Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. For the first 
time an English prince addressed the Welsh people in 
their native tongue, and for the first time an English 

xxxiv 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE _ _ . PAGE 

prince was formally invested with the insignia of his 
high of3S.ce in Wales itself. The ceremony took place 
at Carnarvon Castle, where from the Queen's Gate 
tradition has it that the first Enghsh Prince of Wales, then 
a baby, was presented to the somewhat sulky populace. 
Now, more than six centuries later, the people gathered 
in their thousands from all parts of the Principality 
to show their goodwill toward the yoimg Prince and 
the Throne. 

By Order in Council proclaimed on February 4, 191 1, it 
wasprovided that the arms of the Prince wouldinclude the 
arms of Wales. ' ' Quarterly or andgules, four Uons passant 
guardant covmterchanged." The Prince's arms now 
consist of the Royal Arms differenced by the Prince of 
Wales' label, and charged in the centre with an in- 
escutcheon of the arms of Wales (Llywelyn's), instead 
of the arms of Saxony. The inescutcheon is ensigned 
with the Prince's coronet to show that the arms are 
territorial, not personal. A dragon gu., the ensign of 
Cadwaladr, is one of the badges. 

59. Cromi^ech near the Roman Road between Aber 

AND Roe Wen 410- 

60. Uninscribed British Coins 414- 

61. Inscribed British Coins 416 

62. Romano-British Coins 418 

63. WeivSh and Norman-Wei^sh Coins 420 



ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 

Forms of Soi.ar Ships 24 

The Grave Pit, Ayi^esford 46 

Roman Strigii^s 57 
Pi. an of a Roman Fort at HousESTEAds, on Hadrian's 

gf^WAU, 58 

Drawing of a Rude Form of Pi^ough 117 

Plan of Cardiff Castile 230 

Pl,AN OF lyUDI^OW CaSTTE 232 

Plan of Caerphilly Castle in 1842 235 

XXXV 



HISTORY OF WALES 



PACE 



Catapult 240 

Designed by lyeonardo da Vinci. From his II Codica 

Atlantico. 

Unusuai, Typk of Bai,i.ista 241 

Shaped in the form of an immense bow and arrow. Designed 
by Leonardo da Vinci. From his II Codica Atlantico. 

The Trebuchkt 242 

Showing the manner in which the propulsive force was 
obtained by dropping a heavy weight. From In 
Feudal Times, by E. M. Tappan, Ph.D. 

Owain GivYndwr's Great Seal 378 

Owain Glyndwr's Privy Seal 378 

Ground Plans of Chambered Long Barrows, and of 

Chambers contained in them 410 

lyONG Barrow with Peristalith and Wai.ling 

Restored 411 

Bell-shaped Round Barrow 413 

Disk-shaped Round Barrow 413 

Bowl-shaped Round Barrow 413 

Round Barrow Burial, showing Skeleton protected 

BY A Covering of Stones 414 

The Crwth 423 

The Pib-corn 424 



xxxvi 



CHAPTER I 

ORIGINS 

A FEW years ago history was based on evidence purely 
documentary, or at least on legends, which, owing 
to their generality or their inherent probability, had 
been treated for a long time as containing true germs of history, 
although transmitted from man to man by word of mouth 
in the form of a story or a poem. To-day history, even a 
short and simple history having no pretension to complete- 
ness, would be regarded as imperfect if it failed to take note 
of those dim, remote ages, until lately called prehistoric, which 
are gradually, by the aid of the pickaxe of the excavator and 
the studies of the ethnologist, philologist, and astronomer, 
being brought nearer and nearer to us in living, though not, 
of course, in mathematical time. 

1 Excavations which have been made in caves and river- 
beds and elsewhere have brought to light the remains of a 
race which inhabited the island of which Wales forms a part 
tens of thousands of years ago. For convenience and to hide 
our ignorance we term this race Palaeolithic man. Of him we 
need say nothing save that he hunted with stone implements 
of a rude sort, that he was a drawer of pictures, that he was 
a savage knowing no culture — a cave-dweller who lived on 
his cunning as a hunter rather than on his skill as a tiller of 
the soil or as a shepherd of flocks. An account of Palaeolithic 
man, though not impossible, is undesirable in this history, since 
between him and us lies the Glacial period, which, without 
doubt, swept away completely and for thousands of years all 
traces of human life from that part of the world which lies 
north of the Thames. No particle of Palaeolithic blood can 

A I 



HISTORY OF WALES 

turn to life one thought in any man who lives in England or 
in Wales to-day. The same cannot be said of Neolithic man. 
From his entry on the stage of history the story is a con- 
tinuous one. Atavism doubtless places him occasionally 
in our midst to-day. Competent authorities have, indeed, 
suggested that the modern Frenchman is . nearer akin in 
temperament to the Neolithic than to the Gallic race. In the 
same way the Welshman of to-day can trace himself back 
to pre-Celtic times. With this race, therefore, our history 
must commence^ 

Neolithic Man 

(The men of the New Stone Age came into this island some 
time, we know not when, after the ice had receded to the 
normal north. The influx is to be assigned, not to a year, 
but to centuries or millenniums of years. All through our 
account of this period it must be remembered that man was 
ever changing, possibly ever progressing. Tribes rose to 
power and fell into servitude. Races died out or merged 
with other races. The period which elapsed between the 
commencement and the end of the Neolithic period is greater 
than that which separates the building of the Great Pyramid from 
the bridging of the Menai Strait.^ Notwithstanding this, how- 
ever, it is necessary in the present state of our knowledge 
to treat the period as though it extended over but a few 
years. We must regard the age, for the purpose of description, 
as one which knew not change. 

From the remains which have been found in burial- 
places, cromlechs, barrows, caves, and elsewhere, we shall 
attempt later on a description of Neolithic culture. Before 
doing so, however, it is desirable to put shortly before the reader 
the various steps in the genealogy of the Welsh race from the 
post-Glacial period up to the commencement of the Roman 
invasion. 

|_The earliest ancestors were, as we have said. Neolithic man. 
The earlier members of this group would seem to have been 
short men whose average height was not more than 5 feet 

2 



ORIGINS 

4 iuclies.^ Their heads were long and narrow and the cast of 
face mild. Even before bronze was introduced — that is to 
say, before 2000 B.C. — they were conquered by a broad-headed 




CoAST-i,rtsrE OP Wai<es in the Neowthic Age 

{A. Sam Badrig) 

From ArchcEologia Cambrensis, by permission of the Cambrian 

Archaeological Association. 

race who were thick-set but short in stature. These in turn 
were conquered, possibly shortly after the introduction of 
bronze, by a round-headed people of robust build, tall and 

^ The women's average height was 4 feet 10 inches. This suggests that 
they were the 'hewers of wood and drawers of water,' a stunted growth 
showing a hard life. 

3 



HISTORY OF WALES 

savage-looking. All this had happened long before the Goidels — 
the earlier branch of the Celtic race — had removed westward 
from the Continent to Britain. These Goidels, the direct 
ancestors of the modern Gael, first crossed the western strait 
in about the middle of the Bronze Age — that is to say, about 
1000 B.C., or perhaps later. They in turn were followed and 
dispossessed of southern Britain by the Brythons, the direct 
ancestors of many of the inhabitants of modern Wales, shortly 
after the commencement of the Iron Age. The period of their 
coming is generally assigned to the fourth century B.C. It 
was this people who ruled in Britain, at least in southern 
Britain, when Caesar stepped on to our shores^,, 

Having shortly described the races which honoured this 
island with their presence in those early times, it is desirable 
to retrace our steps and consider generally their nature. In 
the account which follows we group the first three races under 
one head. We thus make the tripartite division of Neolithic 
man, the Goidel, the Brython. 

The Pre-Goidelic Races 

It is a matter of some difficulty to decide of what race the 
nien were who inhabited Britain before the Goidel came. 
Sometimes the word Pict is used. This term is not, however, 
very satisfactory, since it means simply a painted man — as 
does Scotti ^ — and refers to the custom of the inhabitants of 
south-eastern Britain in Caesar's time, who tattooed them- 
selves with figures of birds, beasts, and fishes. When Caesar 
referred to woad-painted men he was talking of Brythons, 
and clearly distinguished between these Brythons and the 
men of the hinterland, whom he described as a pastoral, 
nomadic people, having their wives in common, and living 
in a state of complete barbarity. Whether Caesar was quite 
just to them in this last particular we shall have to consider_j 

From what we have said, it will be observed that the terms 
Picts and Scots are unfortunate expressions. They are made 
more so by the fact that in later times they acquired a specialized 

^ Now doubted ; possibly Scotti = ' the Ancient People.' 




Pi<ATE I. Figurine de Brassempouy 

From " L'Art Celtique," hyM. Boessler 

de Graville {Librairie Chas. Foulard, Pans) 



ORIGINS 

meaning, referring to the men of Caledonia and Ireland. We 
shall therefore in the remaining part of this chapter abandon 
the use of these terms and refer to the Semitic ^ race. 

'The researches of Sir Norman Lockyer and his band of 
helpers into the astronomical significance of Stonehenge and 
the other circles of Britain, together with the independent 
mathematical investigation carried on by B. M. Nelson at 
Hestinsgarth in the Shetlands and elsewhere, taken in con- 
junction with the philological discovery made by Professor 
Morris Jones that Welsh is exactly paralleled so far as its 
syntax is concerned with Egyptian and Berber and the pre- 
Celtic languages of the Hamitic family — allied to the Semitics 
— have proved, we think conclusively, that from about 3600 B.C. 
at latest Britain was inhabited by a race connected by blood 
with the Babylonians or Egyptians and in close contact until 
at least 1300 B.C. with Egyptian culture and Egyptian priest- 
craft. The subject being an interesting one, and one which 
has only received attention within very recent years, we 
shall consider the matter at some length in the chapter follow- 
ing. For our present purposes it is desirable to add that the 
evidence of folk-stories, superstitions, and legends, together 
with the researches before mentioned, suggest that these 
people were a stone-using people ; that they inhabited well- 
nigh the whole world from the Himalayas to the Orkneys, 
excepting Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia ; that they were 
skilled in mathematics and astronomy and worshipped Baal 
and Astarte or Venus. They were non-Celtics, and were 
possibly a matriarchal and not a patriarchal people>i. 

(professor Rhys has pointed out that the Mabinogi of Math 
is explicable only on the supposition that inheritance was 
traced through the mother and not through the father. This 
Mabinogi of Math, one of the stories from the Red Book of 
Hergest, is, so far as the manuscript is concerned, a compara- 
tively late production, dating after the Norman Conquest, yet 
the story itself would seem to go back to very early times. 
One of the most astonishing things which modern research is 
1 We use this word in the conventional sense explained at p. xi. 

5 



HISTORY OF WALES 

revealing is the length of folk-memory. Cotton rags were being 
tied to trees near wells in Wales within recent years. I^ast 
century in Persia a tree was seen covered with rags close to a 
large monolith. The same observances have been noted in 
Ceylon. The practice goes back to the worship of Baal and 
is referred to in the Old Testament. Near Carnac com- 
paratively recently a practice similar to one common to the 
builders of circles in Britain and in America of running naked 
round the circle on the ist of May was observed. Recently 
small boys did the same at Stirling, in Scotland. Many other 
examples could be added, and the whole evidence accumulated 
proves, we think, almost as conclusively as is possible short 
of absolute demonstration that the pre-Goidelics were, in the 
main, a non- Celtic people of the Semitic or Hamitic race, 
possibly matriarchal,^ in touch with the Bast, worshipping 
Baal, and extending over the whole of these islands even to 
the Shetlands. The same conclusions to a considerable extent 
are arrived at when we consider pre- Celtic inscriptions — what 
Sir John Rhys calls Pictish inscriptionsT^ 

The Life of Neolithic Man 

rwhen we seek to describe the life of the people, the difficulty 
which assails us springs out of the diversity of the material 
on which to work rather than upon absence of facts. We 
could take the reader on to Salisbury Plain, then the chief 
centre of the worship of the sun, and on the ist of May bid him 
observe the thousands of men, women, and children who had 
gathered there as to a sacred place to pay their devotions to 
the summer sun. There in the dawn we might have heard 
music ascending to heaven from their temple to Apollo or to 
Baal, while priests made sacrifices to their gods that the 
harvests might be good. Or we could transport him to some 
eminence from whence to watch the building of a tomb. 
Across the plain we should have seen thousands of slaves 

1 The couvade survived in Ireland and Yorksliire as late as Christian times. 
This is neither an Aryan nor a Semitic custom. 

^ The actual cutting of these dates, of course, after the Roman invasion. 

6 







P" 


1 


1 en 




1 






^ 


) 


lii 


rSJ 


VI 


'J 


:±:: 


J 




•n 




§ 


s 


^^ 1 


o 
u 


c: i 


"1 



■■^^Scafesr 



ORIGINS 

toiling with ropes and logs of wood/ pulling or lifting tlie 
heavy stones which went to line these burial-places ; mean- 
while priestly architects mark out the places into which the 
sacred stones must be placed. Little by little the mighty 
edifice is raised, covered with earth, and completed. Had we 
been of the priestly class, we should have known how to 
design the entrance tunnel so that the dead, sitting in state 
facing the east, should at the last, when his spirit awoke, 
welcome the sun as it rose in the sky. We should have known 
that the broken weapons lying around, the food jars and 
domestic appliances, were there to welcome in spirit the soul 
of the dead. The sword must be broken or killed, so that its 
spirit could welcome its master. We should have known how 
to plant the encircling stones, the meaning of those spiral 
markings, those solar ships, the countless curious signs marked 
on the walls of these sanctuaries2\^ 

The tomb is raised. The funeral rites must now be observed. 
It may be that the priests headed the procession, swinging 
incense cups; then came the corpse and the mourner s.^ Perhaps 
a few favourite slaves were driven manacled to the funeral 
pyre on which they were to be sacrificed, so that the 
spirits of the under- world might be propitiated.^ After the 
interment, which was doubtless marked by many sacred 
ceremonies, a feast was held by the surviving kin. Then at 

^ The details given are all based on definite evidence. We choose 
for description the most typical events and daily doings of those times. 
The period we are describing may be fixed approximately at 2000 B.C. That 
music was part of the service at Stonehenge is to some extent a matter 
of imagination, but our account is based on Hecataeus of Abdera, who, 
however, was describing the Celts in a Western island before 300 B.C. As 
we shall see, there is every reason to believe that their religion came to them 
from the more ancient inhabitants. As to the tombs. Rice Holmes has 
said : " The immense toil which must have been expended in constructing 
such [monuments] by labourers who had only deer-horn picks and stone 
tools proves not only density of population, effective organization, and the 
despotism which the chiefs must have exercised, but also a reUgious awe, the 
compelling force of which we, who live in a world that has grown old, can 
hardly conceive." 

' As to this order there is practically no evidence. 

3 Whether suttee practices were common is a matter about which there 
is grave doubt. 

7 



HISTORY OF WALES 

last the dead, clothed in its linen shift/ was left alone to await 
the awakening. The entrance hall was not closed ; a stone 
slab was placed at the mouth, pierced in the centre by a large 
hole through which the dead could see the sun, or through 
which its spirit could escape. ^ 

fPassing from these religious rites, let us go down the Brandon 
Flint Mines. Here again we could have seen an important 
and typical part of the life of Neolithic man. Descending the 
rope which probably led down the shaft, armed with a deer- 
horn pick, we could have mined the flints even as to-day they 
are got by the flint- workers of the district. We could have 
passed down workings like those of a modern coal-mine, 
carrying a lamp to guide us made of rough clay filled with 
a wick and tallow.5 Coming again to the surface, we could 
have gone to the neighbouring factory of one of the most impor- 
tant cutlers in Britain. On the way we might have passed 
herdsmen following cattle on the downs, or " lithe, swarthy 
hunters returning from the chase," stopping perchance at some 
round hut to purchase a bowl of milk with a piece of venison.* 
Arriving at our destination, we could have seen some of the 
foremost craftsmen chipping with hammers of flint the stones, 
but lately gained from the neighbouring mines, into axes 
and chisels, hammers, reapers, arrow-heads, lance-heads, and 
the hundred and one objects necessary to the fighter and 
hunter and farmer in those times. ^ 

[Had we journeyed all over Britain we should have found 

1 Carbonized remains of linen which have come down to us belong to a 
somewhat later period. 

^ Neohthic tombs were long, long-chambered, or round. The round ones 
must be distinguished from the later round heaps of stone or earth which 
contain a few cinerary urns or perhaps a skeleton, and wliich belong to 
the Brythonic period or later. If a cinerary urn is found it generally 
points to an early Celtic or Bronze Age burial. The peoples of the Bronze 
Age practised cremation. Neolithic men did not, as a rule; they interred 
their dead. See further Note A. 

3 These have been picked up in some of the ancient workings. 

4 The teeth of Neolithic man point to a diet mainly composed of milk and 
meat. 

" For an excellent description of the tools, implements, and ornament used 
in Neolithic times reference may be made to Rice Holmes's Ancient Britain. 
When he comes to describe the people and their reHgion we believe that he 
regards them as being in a more backward state than they really were. 

3 




Pi,ATE III. Finely worked Stone Hammer-head 



ORIGINS 

many tribes and clans of different races. We should have 
witnessed many tribal wars, some on a petty, some on a large 
scale. We should have found a considerable population, all, or 
nearly all, living in small houses, in a simple manner, depending 
rather on the chase and on pasturage than on agriculture 
for their living. All these people we should have found 
highly superstitious and completely dominated by the priestly 
class, who, there is reason to believe, as we have said and as 
we shall see, were men of considerable learning who could 
write and could calculateT] 

The Bronze-users 

)As time went on metal was introduced. How the dis- 
covery was made we do not know. All we can say is that 
bronze was known in Egypt 3700 years before the Christian 
era, and that it was probably introduced into Britain from 
Europe by traders, not Phoenician,^ working along the western 
trade routes, some time about 2000 b.c.^ 

At first it must have been extremely precious, and doubtless 
did not oust the old stone implements from general use for 
many years. The change from stone to bronze cannot alone 
account for the conquest of the earlier people by the tall, 
round-headed men who, as we have said, came into Britain 
shortly after the commencement of the metal age. Bronze 
was still the rare possession of kings and chiefs when they came.? 
^It must not be imagined that the new-comers exterminatea 
the older population. As we have seen, Neolithic man lived 
here in considerable numbers, and has not improbably formed 
the main substratum of the Welsh race from ancient to modern 
times. As Dr. Rice Holmes has said when speaking of this 
invasion : "In Wiltshire and other parts of southern Britain 
the old population would seem to have been largely dis- 
possessed or subdued ; but the skeletons found in the barrows 
of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, of Yorkshire and the other 
Northern counties, indicate that there the immigrants mingled 

^ The Phoenician theory has long been abandoned. 

2 Different dates have been assigned. ^Evans fixes the Bronze Age in 
Britain at 1400-1200 B.C. We follow the majority. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

more or less peacefully with the people whom they came 
among." I^ong after they came, flint weapons — arrow-heads, 
spear-heads, etc. — were in common use J, 

! In course of time mines were opened. Ireland became 
even in the Bronze Age one of the most important centres of 
the Northern gold-mining industry.^ Copper was mined in 
Cardiganshire, Anglesey, and near I^landudno ; tin mixed with 
lead came from Cornwall, where also copper-mines were worked. 
With the development of metal-work the taste for personal 
adornment also appears to have grown. The wealth of the 
people seems to have increased and the lot of the women 
became more happy. Both the men and women of the Bronze 
Age liked finery. In the barrows and hut-circles of the period 
remains have been found of all kinds of bronze implements, 
including even razors ; of clothing of leather, of linen, and of 
wool ; as well as ivory, bone, and bronze pins ; jet, amber, and 
glass ornaments ; jet buttons, some being beautifully engraved, 
others made of stone or bone or wood, and most of them pierced 
in such a manner that the thread did not show through. 
Buttons were apparently used by men only, the women content- 
ing themselves with pins and brooches of bronze, bone, and ivory. 
Some of the bronze daggers had handles exquisitely worked. 
One which has been found had a wooden handle beautifully 
inlaid in a chevron pattern with thousands of golden rivets, 
each smaller than the smallest pin. In one Welsh tomb were 
found the remains of a knight who had had his horse furnished 
with golden trappings. lyong before that barrow was opened, 
yet as late as last century, a legend was current in the neigh- 
bourhood that a warrior in gplden armour was to be seen 
riding slowly round the moundj 

';\Besides amber and jet ornaments the women ^ wore orna- 
ments of gold, gold brooches, gold and ivory armlets. Rings, 
however, and ear-rings were rare. Sometimes it is evident 
that sham jewellery was purchased. Just as to-day some 
people, delighting in pearls, being unable to purchase the real 

^ The South relied upon the Rhodesian mines. 
2 The men, of course, were equally vain. 

10 




Plate IV. 



Bronze PaIvSTave, Torc, Armi:.ets, and Rings found on 

HOI<I,INGBtJRY Hll,!,, near STANMER, SUSSEX lO 



ORIGINS 

ones, are content with imitation, so in the past vitreous paste 
beads were bought instead of real glass ones. In the same 
way, ' gold-filled ' rings made of bronze gilded were worn by 
people whose means prevented them from buying those of 
soUd gold. Many things have changed since then, but human 
nature remains the same^[^ 

One of the most extraordinary facts belonging to this time 
was, however, the disparity between the richness of the people's 
dress and the discomfort of their homes. As Dr. Rice Holmes, 
speaking of the Heathery Burn cave, says : " Here was a family 
well armed, equipped with the best tools of the time, owning 
flocks and herds, and rich enough to load their women with 
ornaments, yet content to Hve in a dark, damp cavern traversed 
by a stream, which one night rose in flood and drowned them 
in their sleep. . . . That they inhabited it, if not permanently,^ 
at least for long periods, is proved by the abundance of pottery 
as well as by the heaps of refuse, which represented the remains 
of a long succession of meals." Though, of course, the majority 
of the men of the Bronze Age did not live in caves, they prob- 
ably lived in rude huts, possibly, in some cases, in construc- 
tions similar in design to the tombs, j 

As time passed the wealth, though not of necessity the 
culture, of the people increased. They were still mainly 
pastoral. They were still divided into many clans. The old 
religion seems to have weakened or to have changed. The 
priestly class still retained, however, much of its influence. 
Fighting was probably frequent, and the wonderful ' forts ' ^ 
scattered up and down the country show an advance in 
military skill. 

The Goidels 

It was while Britain was in this stage of development that 
the' Goidels first appear upon the scene. 

A fierce war has raged for some years now as to the relation- 

1 They may, of course, have been refugees. This would account for their 
having their valuables around them. 

2 Of which Maiden Castle is the most famous. 

II 



HISTORY OF WALES 

ship between the Goidels and the earlier inhabitants of Britain. 
Sir John Rhys beHeves that the Goidels came west, following the 
general lines of the Aryan advance. Professor Kuno Meyer, 
on the other hand, holds a very definite opinion that the 
Goidels came from Ireland. He says : " Whether we take 
history for our guide, or native tradition, or philology, we 
are led to no other conclusion but this : that no Gael ever set 
foot on British soil save from a vessel that had put out from 
Ireland." We should have thought, from the nature of the 
authorities, that this was putting the case much too high. 
There are at least some grounds for believing that the Goidels 
came west with the general Aryan movement, conquered the 
aboriginals of Britain, and were subsequently driven west 
and north by the Brythons. It is clear that the Megalithic 
people inhabited Ireland, and went there from Kurope. It can 
hardly be contended that they found there the Aryan Celts of 
the Goidelic race. If the Celts came later than the Megalithic 
people of the Neolithic age, as they almost certainly did, we 
can see no reason whatever why the Goidels should pass over 
Britain and go straight to Ireland.^ These obvious objections 
Professor Kuno Meyer seeks to escape mainly, we believe, by 
showing that from a.d. 270 onward there were many raids 
from Ireland directed against the Welsh or Brythons. He points 
out that the eighth-century tale of Indarha mna nDesi tells us 
how the Desi, an Irish tribe, having been defeated by Cormac 
MacAirt, left their old holdings and went in part under the 
leadership of Eochaid, son of Artchorp, to Dyfed (South 
Wales), and remained permanently there. This of course 
explains the presence of Gaels in South Wales. It does not 
prove that there were no Gaels in Britain before. It does not 
help us very much with the condition of affairs in 1000 B.C. 
Nor does the fact, if fact it be, that Ogham writing was in- 
vented in Ireland. Granted that the barrows in Britain have 
yielded no Goidelic skeletons, we must remember that the 
presupposed time of their coming here synchronizes with 
cremation burial. In short, all the evidence that we have 

^ It must be remembered that all sea journeys were made coastwise. 
12 





Pi<ATE V. (i) Bronze Pan 12 

(2) Thin Bronze Vessel, probabi^y used as a \\'ater-ci:,ock 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the Babylonian or Egyptian ancestors who had preceded them 
in the occupation of this land. 

What is also probable is that, asSergi said, " Indo-Germanism 
led to almost entire forgetfulness of the most ancient civiliza- 
tions of the earth, those born in the valleys of the Euphrates 
and the Tigris." We are by no means convinced that the 
culture of the Megalithic people, the race which raised the great 
stone monuments, was not greater than that of later races 
who succeeded in subduing them. Were it not that the 
implements and pottery, etc., found in the barrows improves 
as we pass from stone to bronze, we should have little difficulty 
in arriving at a conclusion. When we examine the stone 
circles and chambered barrows ^ we seem to see before us a 
people who were neither savages nor barbarians. 

^ See Note A for a short account of the barrows. 



H 




Pl<ATE VI. 



Cinerary Vase from the Late Celtic Urn Field at 

AyIvEsford, Kent 14 



CHAPTER II 
THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

iir^ OMK of the most difficult problems with which modern 
^^ research has attempted to grapple circle round those 
V^ strange megalithic monuments which are found all 
over western and southern Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, 
India, the Pacific Islands as far as Japan, and South America. 
In particular the great stone avenues and circles have claimed 
the attention of antiquaries and scholars for many years. 
Many books ^ have been written on Stonehenge alone. Many 
theories have been propounded. 

For us the question is of importance. Many of the Welsh- 
men of to-day are nearer akin to the builders of the megaliths 
than to any other race. The monuments they raised tell 
us most about the culture they represented?! It is therefore 
not merely desirable but necessary to give at least an outUne 
of the opinions which are current to-day concerning these 
wonderful works of Neolithic man. Having marshalled the 
most important evidence which has been brought to light 
in connexion with these circles, and having stated the con- 
clusions which we consider are best supported by the evidence, 
we shall then have to turn from the created thing to the 
creating man and relate such few facts concerning the priestly 
class of that age as may be necessary for the general under- 
standing of the civilization which they represented. 

The Circles 

In order that we may appreciate the true meaning of these 
monuments, it will be necessary to consider them from three 

^ More than seven hundred. 

15 



HISTORY OF WALES 

different points of view : the astronomical and mathematical, 
the antiquarian, and the mythological, legendary, and religious. 
Within recent years a considerable amount of attention has 
been given to Stonehenge and other megalithic remains in 
Great Britain by Sir Norman I^ockyer and his fellow- workers. 
The conclusions at which they have arrived, if correct, are 
of the first importance to the student of history and to the 
inquirer into the problems of race-development. Before we 
pass on to the summarization of these conclusions, it is desirable 
to state that other astronomers who are entitled to respect 
have disagreed with Sir Norman's theories. Dr. Rice Holmes 
asserts that Mr. Hinks has shown Sir Norman's calculations 
to have been founded on faulty premises, and Mr. B. J. Webb 
has taken a similar view. Since, as we shall see, the bulk 
of opinion, when looking at the subject from a quite different 
aspect, comes to the same conclusion as Sir Norman, we 
prefer to follow him rather than his opponents. If in so doing 
we err, we err in good company, for no less an authority 
than Professor MonteUus has ranged himself on Sir Norman 
lyockyer's side. 

Astronomical Data 

The researches of the authority whom we are at present 
considering disclose two vastly important facts : (i) the 
building of the avenues and circles dates from 3600 to 1300 B.C. ; 
(2) these circles were built by men intimately acquainted 
with the Egyptian culture of that time. The evidence for 
these two conclusions cannot, of course, be more than adum- 
brated here. Briefly put, the outstanding points may, perhaps, 
be stated as follows : Egyptian temples have been found to 
have been built on the same general plan as avenues, circles, 
and cromlechs. For astronomical purposes avenues and 
circles are to be kept distinct. The avenue had one astrono- 
mical use, the circle had many. Each necessary line in the 
latter case could be marked by a stone fixed near (as a rule) 
to the outer circle. In the avenue the astronomical line was 
down the centre of the avenue ; thus it could serve but one 
16 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

purpose. Sir Norman has suggested that the change from 
avenue to circle was made necessary from considerations of 
economy. He has calculated the modern cost of the ancient 
temple of Amon-Ra (an avenue temple) at £5,000,000. Its 
main purpose was, of course, to bring about the apparently 
miraculous manifestation of the god Ra once a year at the 
instant of sunsetT 

As time went on it seems to have been perceived that 
a circular temple would have added advantages from the 
economical point of view. If this reason for the change be 
correct, then it would appear that we must credit the race 
who built the circles with the raising of those stone avenues 
which are found in considerable numbers here and upon the 
Continent. 

^Besides the transition from avenue to circle another change 
took place. In Egypt in the era of the avenue, say 4000 B.C., 
the year was divided, not according to the summer and winter 
solstices, but into two sections which would now begin in May 
and November. The Egyptian astronomers discovered the 
advantage of dividing the year at the solstices about 2000 B.C. 
In Britain they were directly copied. As Sir Norman I^ockyer 
has said : " The solstitial cult in Britain followed the May 
year cult, just in the same way as in Egypt the solstitial cult 
at Thebes followed the May year cult at Memphis and Helio- 
polis." The change was made in Egypt, as we have said, 
about 2000 B.C. The date of the solstitial sarsen stone at 
Stonehenge has been fixed to within 200 years at 1680 B.C. 
We have, therefore, according to Sir Norman, the Britons 
modifying their most magnificent temple not improbably 
within a comparatively few years after the introduction of 
the new system into Egypt .^ 

We must pause here, however, to point out that folk 
practices are known to-day which seem to indicate a division 
of the year into two parts commencing with May and 
November long after 2000 B.C. In the Coligny Calendar, to 
which we shall refer at greater length later on, we have a year 
commencing with November, according to Sir John Rhys. 

B 17 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Such practices as the Hoke Day ceremonies also point to 
the main divisions of the year falling in May and November, 
and these pieces of evidence date at earliest from Brythonic 
times, say 400 B.C. 

The arguments of Sir Norman are persuasive, however, in 
the main. His conclusions have this advantage, that they 
explain several things which were previously unsolved prob- 
lems. For example, W. C. I^ukis pointed out that on Dart- 
moor and in Cornwall circles are frequently found in clusters, 
and the questions naturally suggested themselves, Why should 
these great works have been grouped together ? Why should 
the worshippers have been gathered into separate congrega- 
tions ? Sir Norman has now shown us that in fact these 
circles, besides being temples, also had a utilitarian purpose. 
They were the time-givers. He has divided them into two 
main groups, solar circles and stellar circles, the latter being 
subdivided into night-time circles and morning-star circles. 
Such a division manifestly enables us to account for the 
clustering of the circles noticed by I/ukis. 

As to the astronomical data upon which these conclusions 
are based, it is, of course, impossible to deal with them in 
one short chapter. When we pass to the mathematical 
evidence we find, however, that the general conclusions already 
referred to are supported. 

Mathematical Evidence 

'Since 1912 Mr. Nelson has carried out a series of measure- 
ments of the main distances between stones, etc., found in these 
circles, and his researches have led to some remarkable results. 
This inquirer, in his extraordinarily interesting series of mono- 
graphs The Cult of the Circle-Builders, has shown that the 
builders of the circles in Britain planned these monuments 
according to certain sacred numbers which stand for the Moon, 
the Sun (Baal, Bel), and Venus (Ishtar, Astarte, Astoreth)7 
These numbers are 3, k, and 7, or 66.6. a: is a convenient 
constant which represents the ancient form of the modern x ; 
that is to say, it expresses the relation between the diameter 
18 




Pi,ATE VII. Bas-relief rei^ating to the Tempi^e of Sippar 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

and the circumference of a circle. With the circle-builders, 
however, k had not the modern value given to tt, but equalled 

22.2 

From measurements of the Hestinsgarth circle in the Shet- 
lands, checked with measurements of circles at Stonehenge ; 
Avebury ; Maumbery Rings, at Dorchester ; Broigar, in the 
Orkneys ; Stanton Drew ; the Mendip circles, near East 
Harptree ; the Bodmin circles, in Cornwall ; ' Denber's 
Pasture,' Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire ; temples at 
Great Zimbabwe,^ and many Greek temples ; monoliths at 
Baalbek ; the Great Pyramid ; and ' Cleopatra's Needle,' it 
appears that these three numbers formed the basis for every 
kind of calculation. 

The architect of Avebury had before him the measurement 
of the Great Pyramid base, for, in Mr. Nelson's words, " the 
distance of Silberry Hill from the Avebury temple in Hestins- 
garth feet consists of the same numerals as the length of the 
side of the Great Pyramid in cubits." Both contained the 
same sacred number of units. 

It will be remembered that in the Book of Revelation 666 is 
given as the number of the Beast, This is a reference to the 
worship of Baal, which from ancient times in Asia Minor had 
been contending for supremacy with the Hebrew worship of 
one true and living God. ' Cleopatra's Needle,' on the Thames 
Embankment, is 66.6 pyramid feet high. In Mr. Nelson's words, 
" it is stamped with the number of the Beast." 

The same sacred number, with its three sacred components 
3, K, and 7, is found in every circle in Britain which has been 
examined. The symbolism is shown beautifully in a bas- 
relief relating to the temple of Sippar (see Plate 7). The same 
symboHsmis to be found, we believe, in the Men-an-tol, which 
Sir Norman Ivockyer regards as a sighting-stone used by the 
Druids. There three notches will be observed at the top and 
four at the bottom, k does not appear on the stone, however. 

To return to the bas-relief. Since we are again indebted to 

^ In upper Rhodesia, near the ancient gold-mines. 

19 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Mr. Nelson for this piece of evidence/ we quote his description 
of the bas-reHef , a description which will be seen to bring into 
prominence all the essential characteristics. " At the right- 
hand top corner of the tablet the Sun-god is seen sitting in a 
shrine. The three discs at the top represent the Moon, Sun, 
and Ishtar (Venus), in numbers 3, /c, and 7, or 66.6. The Sun- 
god holds a ring and a rod in his right hand : this is symbolical 
of his own number, k, for the rod is the length of the circum- 
ference of the ring, and therefore equal to Kd. 

"The wavy ornamentation of the Sun-god's dress will be 
noted. It is similar to the decoration of the plinth upon which 
the shrine stands. There are nine rows of these waves in the 
depth of the plinth at the right hand of the tablet, and seven 
rows at the left hand. There are thirty-one waves in the length 
of the plinth ; this is 10 ^'." Mr. Nelson beHeves that these 
waves symbolized light, and happily added the quotation 
from Psalm civ, 2 : " Who coverest thyself with light as with 
a garment." 

If the Sun's disc on the left is examined it will be seen that 
there are eight spokes in it ; four of these are long-shaped 
isosceles triangles, the other four being bands of three rows 
of waves. In his third monograph Mr. Nelson has shown that 
a triangle symbolizes three, a quadrilateral four, a triangle 
superimposed upon a quadrilateral seven, and a triangle on 
a quadrilateral capped at the apex with a small circle k. 
M. D6chelette arrives at similar conclusions. 

Antiquarian Considerations 

Now let us pass from the astronomer and the mathematician 
to the antiquary. Here we have a complete divergence of 
opinion. We will regard Dr. Bvans and Professor Gowland as 
representing the two opposing schools for the purpose of the 
notes which follow. Dr. Evans, who holds the view that 
Stonehenge is a comparatively recent production, dating 
not earlier than the third century B.C. and built before the 

1 It is also noticed by M. D^chelette in his monograph Le Ciilte du Soleil 
aux Temps pr&historiques. 

20 




PivATE VIII. Assyrian Boundary Stone 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

close of the Wiltshire * Round Barrow ' period, lays much stress 
on the fact that of the thirty-six disc-shaped barrows which 
have been found in the vicinity, thirty-five contained evidence 
of cremation interment. This, however, we believe, only proves 
post-Neolithic burial, and the opinion is growing that even 
the Goidelic bronze-users came here long before 300 B.C. 
Indeed, the Bronze Age, whether or not it synchronized with 
the Celtic irruption, dates back to about 2000 B.C. according 
to many eminent antiquaries. 

On the other hand. Professor Gowland dates Stonehenge 
as belonging to about 2000-1800 B.C., thus agreeing with 
lyockyer and Montelius. Professor Gowland, however, believes 
that it may date from the Bronze Age culture, though not built 
with bronze tools. The fact that the sarsen stones have ob- 
viously been worked with flint implements does not show 
conclusively that they belong to the Neolithic period, for the 
only alternative was bronze, and, as Dr. Maskelyne has pointed 
out, bronze tools were not hard enough to work this particular 
kind of stone. In fixing his date Professor Gowland lays 
considerable stress on the finding of a deer-horn pick among 
the ruins, of the kind used by Neolithic man in his under- 
ground flint -mines. ^ On the other hand, Mr. F. R. Coles had 
said that, " so far as direct evidence has been obtained by 
rightly conducted excavations, the outstanding feature of all 
the Scottish circles that have been investigated is the presence 
within them of interments of the Bronze Age." 

We see, therefore, that on the question of date antiquaries 
differ. They also hold different opinions as to the use to 
which the circles were put, though we believe that Dr. Evans' 
theory that they were primarily burial-places has lost favour. 
The bulk of authority supports the view that they were con- 
nected with sun-worship. On the whole we must admit, how- 
ever, that the purely archaeological evidence is conflicting. 
Where authorities disagree it behoves the wayfarer to be 

1 Picks of the same shape (viz. with one spur only instead of the common 
double head) are still used in the flint-mines at Brandon, which have been in 
use since NeoKthic times. 

21 



HISTORY OF WALES 

dumb. We therefore pass on to consider what mythology and 
religion can teach us. 

Mythological and Religious Considerations 

As we have said, these circles were temples ; they were not 
places of burial. The rites observed there were those of 
the worship of Baal, sun-worship which had come here 
from Asia Minor probably by way of the Pillars of Hercules. 
Let us see if what we know of the early religion of these 
islands supports this conclusion. We remind the reader at 
the outset that throughout these opening chapters we 
have regarded Neolithic man as a member of the Semitic 
or Hamitic race. 

Now it is fairly clear that the people who raised the 
circles also built those great tumuli which are scattered over 
Europe. Such works as that at Mont Saint-Michel — which 
contains some 40,000 cubic yards of stone — belong essentially 
to the Megalithic culture. So does New Grange, in Ireland. 
This Neolithic burial-place possesses some qualities which give 
it a special interest to students of these early times. The 
mound itself is some 280 feet wide and 44 feet high. It is sur- 
rounded by a circle of upright stones. TunnelUng through the 
side of the mound is a narrow passage, the entrance of which 
faces exactly south-east. The passage is lined both at the 
sides and at the top with slabs of unhewn stone. Though 
but 3 feet wide, it is in places nearly 8 feet high, and penetrates 
into the mound nearly 62 feet. It terminates in a chamber 
some 20 feet high, shaped in the form of a cross. The roof of 
this chamber, which is dome-shaped, is formed of large flat 
stones. In each of the three recesses of the central chamber 
stands a large stone sarcophagus. No traces of burials now 
remain, the mausoleum having been ransacked by the Danes. 
At the entrance of the tunnel there stands, however, a large 
stone covered with a carved pattern very similar to that 
on chalk objects which were found in a Neolithic tomb in 
Yorkshire (see Plate 10). We have here, then, a splendid 
example of a Neolithic tomb. Its main interest for us, how- 
22 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

ever, lies in the fact that graven on one of the interior stones 
is a rude representation of a solar ship. 

(Now these solar ships are very well known symbols repre- 
senting the passage of the dead from this world to the under- 
world. M. Dechelette in his monograph Le Culte du Soleil 
aux Temps Prehistoriques gives a large number of examples of 
solar ship drawings from various parts of Europe. In some 
the ship and the solar mark alone are portrayed. In some 
the ship is drawn by a dolphin, in others by a swan. All 
are connected with sun-worship. In Egypt the solar ship 
is frequently found on monuments. Sometimes it is simply 
a ship with the solar mark, sometimes the ship contains the 
souls of the dead, sometimes inside the solar sign the god Ra 
sits enshrined. 

We therefore see, unless our eyes have played us false, 
that the builders of the tumulus at New Grange observed the 
same religious rites connected with burials as did the Egyptians 
and many other peoples scattered over parts of Europe into 
which the Celts never penetrated. We have seen that it is 
at least probable that the builders of New Grange belonged 
to the Megalithic culture. We suggest that the British circles 
belong to the same culture. We are again, therefore, led 
back to EgypD^ 

If the entrance stone at New Grange and the chalk objects 
already referred to are examined, it will be found that on 
both a peculiar spiral system of ornamentation was adopted. 
This was not mere decoration ; it has a meaning. Scattered 
well-nigh all over the world, at any rate over the Megalithic 
world, are found a series of markings which have been called 
cup-and-ring markings. They are found only on megaliths 
or on objects belonging to the Megalithic culture. They are 
a sign that the object on which they are engraved is holy. The 
curves or spirals above referred to are variants of the cup- 
and-ring marking. 

Again, nothing is more typical of the Egyptian mind of 
2000 B.C. or earlier than its love of magic. Every one 
will remember the conflict between Aaron and the wizards 

23 



HISTORY OF WALES 




II I /y 



Soi^AR Ship (with Saii,?) 

FROM NEW Grange, 

Irei,and 




Ship (with Saii,?) from 

Ryxo 

(After Du Chaillu) 




Ship Carving (with Soi,ar Embi,em ?) 

FROM Scania, Sweden 

{After Du Chaillu) 





Egyptian Bark, with Figure of Ra 

HOI<DING ANAnkh, ENCEOSEDIN SOI,AR 

Disk. XIXth Dynasty 

{British Museum) 






Soi,ar Ship from Haeeande, Sweden 
{After Montelius) 




Egyptian Soear Bark, with God 

Khnemu and attendant Deities 

{British Museum) 




Soear Ship from I,oc- 

mariaker, Brittany 

(After Ferguson) 



Egyptian Soear Bark. XXIInd Dynasty 

(British Museum) 



H 



From Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race, by T. W. Rolleston. 






Pirate X. (i) Food-vessei, and Cover 
(2) Three Chalk Objects, possibIvY Idols 



24 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

of Egypt. Magic was also a peculiarity of the Megalithic 
culture. The Druids in after-times were wizards, and, as we 
shall see, were classed by Clemens Alexandrinus as one of the 
four great divisions of the magi. The same fact is impressed 
most strongly upon us by the tumulus discovered in 1864 
at Mane-er-H'oeck, in Brittany. Here in a chamber in the 
tumulus was found a beautiful pendant in green jasper. In 
the centre of the chamber was a large ring of jadite, oval in 
shape, with a beautifully finished axe-head of jadite resting 
with its point on the ring. A little distance from these were 
several objects arranged in a line coinciding with the diagonal 
of the chamber, running from north-west to south-east. These 
objects consisted of two large pendants of jasper, an axe-head 
of white jade which must have come from China, and another 
jasper pendant. In other parts of the chamber were found 
over a hundred axe-heads in jade, jadite, and fibrolite. It was 
not a burial-place. How can we account for such a place 
other than by saying that it was a temple of magic ? It will of 
course be borne in mind that the axe-head was a symbol of 
godhead common in Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

Folk Practices 

! Again, Wood-Martin has said that "stone, water, tree, and 
animal worship are intimately connected." The Anglo-Saxon 
Christian ordinances are mainly directed against the worship 
of the sun, moon, fire, rivers, fountains, rocks, or trees — thus 
pointing to earlier practices of that nature which had to be 
repressed. This form of worship was common in Egypt and 
Asia Minor, as was the practice of tying rags on trees, which 
lived into modern times in Wales, and the worship of the cat, 
which was obviously a quasi-sacred animal in Wales in the time 
of Howel Dha. Again, the people who worshipped Baal prac- 
tised the shedding of the blood of victims on the altar -stones. 
This was also a practice of the DruidSil 

Sacred fountains were a common symbol at Semitic sanc- 
tuaries. Sacred wells and fountains form the basis of many 
ancient Welsh and Irish legends, as we shall see. Evidence 

25 



HISTORY OF WALES 

from folk practices and legends of such weight could be ad- 
duced as to force one to the conclusion that the Semitic people 
were at once worshippers of Baal or Bel and the introducers 
of that religion to Britain ; further, that the religion took firm 
root in British soil and lived on in the practices of the Druids. 
This is not the place in which to marshal this evidence. We 
content ourselves with referring to the Irish story The Wooing 
of Emir. There we are informed that at Bron-Trogin (the 
beginning of autumn) the young of every kind of animal used 
to be " assigned to the possession of the idol Bel." Again, in 
the Book of Taliessin we have a reference to the cadair Belin 
(chair of Bel or Bael), and the Druids beHeved that the Sun 
made his daily round in a chair. We do not pursue this Une 
of inquiry for another reason — we have no desire to reproduce 
the ingenious but misguided efforts of Edward Davies, Herbert, 
and perhaps we should add M. O. Morgan, to read into the^ 
old Welsh stories a symbolic reference to the Druidical religion^'' 

Philological Evidence 

[In this effort to present the reader with the simple 
and outstanding facts which suggest a connexion between 
Egyptian culture and the Megalithic culture in Britain it is 
desirable to point out that philologists agree that Welsh 
syntax shows a close resemblance to that of the Hamitic 
languages (closely connected with the Semitic) , and that ethno- 
logists believe that Megalithic people radiated north, east, 
and west from some place on the North African littoralJ 

Utility of the Circles 

Whether, like many other ancient customs, the cult of the 
circle originated in utility ^ and ended in becoming a religion, 
or whether the unfathomable mysteries of the heavens, the 
beauty of the growing trees and flowing rivers, so impressed 
early man as to cause him to worship and study them, and so 
to obtain a knowledge of the heavens which in time was put 
to a practical use, we are not prepared to say. The trend 

* They served, as we have seen, the useful pxirpose of time-keepers. 
26 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

of ancient practices is frequently from utility to religion. 
Thus the clause in the I^aws of Manu forbidding the touching 
of the flesh of the pig was grounded in utility, but became a 
religious observance. It may be that the circles originated 
as an astronomical mode of telling the time and as a method 
of fixing seed-time and harvest, and became in succeeding 
ages potent instruments in the hands of the priests. In our 
opinion, however, they were from the earliest times connected 
with sun-worship. 

In early days great significance was always assigned to 
the time at which a thing happened. Those acquainted 
with the early history of Roman law will remember how 
jealously the priests (then the lawgivers) kept from the people 
all knowledge of the dies fasti and nefasti. It was so with 
the Druids, who attached the greatest importance to lucky and 
unlucky days and pretended to a power of divination by con- 
sulting the stars. Such practices seem to take us back to 
Neolithic times. Indeed, there are many reasons which support 
the view that Druidism goes back as far as the circle-builders — 
back, that is to say, beyond the Age of Bronze. In later times, 
after the Roman invasion, the Druids still practised some of 
their ancient craft in Wales and Ireland. They were still 
astrologers, they were still called in to calculate the way in 
which and the time at which a house should be built. But 
the class was becoming degenerate, the priest was becoming 
a medicine -man. With these preliminary remarks let us turn 
to a consideration of the Druids themselves. 

The Druids 

Of the outward appearance of these priests we know but 
little. We are informed, however, that they wore a white 
robe (at least when performing the sacred ceremony of cutting 
the mistletoe from the oak with a golden knife) , and that they 
were tonsured. It will be seen later on that the Cymro had 
to be tonsured when he entered the service or family of his 
chief. Whether the two practices are in any way connected 
we do not know. 

27 



HISTORY OF WALES 

"^The Druids were the priests, the men of learning, the poets 
and lawyers of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland. The Gaulish and 
British Druids believed in the immortality of the soul and in 
a form of transmigration of souls. The Irish Druids do not 
seem to have held quite the same views on this important 
point. They (the Irish) worshipped idols, one, the god to 
whom the young of animals was devoted, being called Bel. 

In Gaul and Britain especially the Druids were the leaders 
of religion, the diviners and soothsayers. ■. 

According to Pomponius Mela, the 'Druids of Gaul were 
masters of eloquence and wisdom. They also professed to 
know the size and form of the earth, the movements of the 
heavenly bodies and the stars. This is perhaps rating them 
too low. They were probably acquainted with many ad- 
vanced astronomical facts. There is good reason to believe 
that the circles and avenues we have referred to could not 
have been planned save by men who had a considerable 
knowledge of astronomy. 

We are also informed by the same writer that the Druids 
were prophets who could foretell the wishes of the gods. 
Further, that they were the men of learning to whom the 
education of the children of the principal men of the tribes was 
entrusted. We have a confirmation of this in the Irish stories. 
There we read that King lyaegaire's two daughters were sent 
to live at Curachan, in Connagh, in the house of the two Druids 
who had charge of their education ; and St. Columba himself 
was educated by a Druid. 

It is Pliny who tells us of the reverence with which the 
Druids regarded the oak, and the mistletoe when growing 
upon oak. The Druids of Gaul held nothing more sacred 
than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grew, if that tree 
were an oak. He also tells us of the oak-groves and the use 
of oak-leaves in their reUgious ceremonies. He, too, derives 
their name from the Greek word for oak, a derivation which 
is not, however, accepted to-day. ^ 

^ It comes from the Aryan root vid, strengthened by an intensive prefix 
DRU, combined meaning ' very wise.' 

28 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

Diodorus Siculus agrees in according to the Druids the 
power of prophecy. He refers to them as philosophers and 
priests who were held in the greatest reverence. This again 
agrees with the Irish authorities, for we read that at the feast 
which King Concobar gave, when he stood up to address his 
subjects he waited before speaking until the Druid Cathbad 
opened the discussion by inquiring, " What is this, O illustrious 
King ? " Further, from Ossian it appears that the Druids 
had in times of great national danger the power of electing 
or appointing a dictator with supreme power, who held office 
so long as the Druids deemed that affairs demanded a strong 
hand. 

The Druids doubtless derived most of their power, which would 
seem to have been considerable, from their faculty of divination 
and their knowledge, a knowledge which they were careful 
to keep secret. They were the wizards, the magi of pre- 
Roman Britain. Clemens Alexandrinus in his list of the magi 
of different nations mentions the prophets of the Egyptians, 
the Chaldees of Assyria, the Druids of the Gauls, and the 
philosophers of the Keltoi. 

Their methods of divination have been differently described 
by different writers. If we follow Diodorus Siculus it appears 
that the Druids of Gaul practised human sacrifice, the victim 
being struck by a sword, and from his mode of falling, the 
contortions of his limbs, and the flowing of the blood future 
events were predicted. Strabo, however, seems to suggest 
that a separate class, the soothsayers, were responsible for 
the sacrificial rites, the Druids being rather wise men, philo- 
sophers who were concerned mainly with learning. Diodorus, 
indeed, also tells us that the soothsayers performed the sacrifice, 
but the priest attended so that the thanksgiving offered to the 
gods should be acceptable. 

With the Irish, the Druids made their divinations from 
observations of the clouds, according to Dr. Joyce, though we 
confess the usual opinion that they used the stars for the 
purpose of their auguries agrees with what we know of their 
early astronomical professions. Cloud divination may be 

29 



HISTORY OF WALES 

a later form which would appeal to a poetic and romantic 
people who had forgotten the reason underlying the ancient 
study of the heavens while remembering that the heavens 
were studied. This, of course, is pure surmise. 

In Ireland it also appears that the Druids practised wheel 
divination. Exactly how this was done is to-day unknown. 
It is a matter of the greatest interest to note, as Sir John Rhys 
has pointed out, and as Dr. Joyce has remarked, that the old 
Gaulish sun-god is represented with a wheel in his hand, even 
as is Baal in the tablet we have described. 

Much of the later Irish Druidical prophecy is, in our opinion, 
mere medicine -man work — common cunning preying on the 
superstitious and not based on any particular knowledge. 
As we have already said, the Druids attached considerable 
importance to lucky days. These days were generally 
determined, in Ireland, from a consideration of the moon's 
age.i 

Both in Ireland and in Gaul (and we believe we may add 

^ The CoUgny Calendar, discovered in November 1897, near Lyons, France, 
proves, we believe, quite conclusively that the priests of Gaul in the first 
century of our era still retained the ancient belief in lucky and iinlucky 
times. This calendar, which is described by Rhys in his paper Celtae and Galli, 
read before the British Academy in 1905, divides the year up as follows : 



Cantlos 


29 days 


= 


May 


unlucky 


Samon 


30 „ 


= 


June 


lucky 


Duman 


29 „ 


= 


July 


unlucky 


Rivios 


30 „ 


= 


August 


lucky 


Anacaulios 


29 „ 


= 


September 


unlucky 


Ogron 


30 „ 


= 


October 


lucky 


Qutios 


30 „ 


= 


November 


lucky 


Granion 


29 „ 


= 


December 


unlucky 


Simivis 


30 „ 


= 


J anuary 


lucky 


Equos 


30 „ 


= 


February 


unlucky 


Elembin 


29 „ 


= 


March 


unlucky 


Edrin 


30 .. 


= 


April 


lucky 



Several points arise out of this calendar even when considered generally. 
In the first place, observe the Goidehc ' qu ' in the important November month, 
also in February. From this, prima facie, it looks like a GoideUc rather than 
a Brythonic calendar. Secondly, if the days are added up they will be 
found to make 355. The necessary corrective appears from the full calendar, 
which embraces more than one year. Every five years, apparently, an added 
month was twice put in, which brings the year on an average to 367 days. 
Again, it appears, according to Rhys, that this calendar gives November as the 

30 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

in Britain) the Druid was connected with the bard. Diodorus 
Siculus treats of them together when considering Gaul, and so 
does Strabo. In Ireland they were quite definitely con- 
nected. The class indeed had an important third division 
there — the Brehon, or lawyer. In Wales the Triads group bard 
and Druid together. This, of course, is not conclusive, because 
the Triads are comparatively modern. 

One of the questions relating to the Druids about which there 
has been most dispute is the connexion between the Druids of 
Gaul and those of Britain. W. F. Tamblyn has, indeed, 
gone so far as to suggest that there never were any Druids 
in the sense of learned priests in Britain. His further con- 
tention that the Roman conquest of Britain was not under- 
taken simply to crush the Druidical religion is probably correct, 
as is his view that Gaul, and not Britain or Mon, was the centre 
of the Druidic religion. To say that there never were any 
learned Druids in Britain, but mere savage medicine-men with 
a penchant for human slaughter and sorcery, is, we believe, 
to ignore the evidence of the cromlech, the circle, and the 
avenue. 

As we have said, it is evident that in Britain in very early 
times there were men possessed of undoubted astronomical 
knowledge in touch with Egyptian culture. As Sir Norman 
lyockyer has told us : " The people who honoured us with 
their presence here in Britain some four thousand years ago 
had evidently, some way or other, had communicated to 
them a very complete Egyptian culture, and they deter- 
mined their time of night just in the same way that the 
Egyptians did, only of course there was a great difference 

beginning of the year. He adds : " Celtic folk-lore unanimously points [to the 
first of November] as the calends of winter and the beginning of the year." 
On the other hand, it will be remembered that the avenues were apparently 
based on a division of the year according to May and November, a division 
which was early altered, following the Egyptian system, to agree with the 
summer and winter solstices. Again, it must be borne in mind that 
competent authorities have fixed the date of the calendar as the middle 
of the first century a.d. I,astly, it is desirable to remark that the calendar, 
besides marks showing which were lucky and which unlucky months, contains 
signs which, it has been suggested on grounds which are at least persuasive, 
refer to weather prophecies. 

31 



HISTORY OF WALES 

between the latitude of 25° in Egypt and 50° in Cornwall. 
Tliey could not observe the same stars for the same purpose. 
They observed the stars which served their purpose for one 
thousand years or so. Those stars were Capella and Arcturus." 
We have included the latter part of our extract because it shows 
that the British Druids were not simply blindly copying the 
Egyptian temple architecture ; they modified it to meet 
the change of latitude. They did not copy the Egyptian 
stellar system ; they modified it to meet their altered cir- 
cumstances. All this shows knowledge vastly greater than that 
possessed by the totemist or the idol -worshipping medicine- 
man. 

<Then there is Stonehenge. Mute witness to a bygone 
culture, it stands to-day the symbol of events now nearly lost 
to us. Gazing upon that great circle of mighty stones, it is 
ridiculous to talk of savages and medicine-men. Of what 
matter is it, indeed, that Cicero and Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, 
Mela, lyUcan, Pliny, Ammianus, Suidas, and others all or 
mainly refer to the Druids of Gaul ? To argue from the nega- 
tive evidence, from the fact that British Druids are ignored 
by the Roman and Greek writers, that therefore there were no 
British Druids is most unconvincing. It appears obvious that 
the reason why the Roman and Greek writers mentioned little 
of British Druidism is that (i) they knew nothing of Britain 
before Caesar, except such information as Pythias, Posidonius, 
or the Phoenician traders had gathered — and they would know 
little of the priestly class ; (2) by Caesar's time the Druids 
were of comparatively small importance in the Britain he knew, 
and it is fairly clear that the Druidic religion vv^as of Goidelic 
or pre- Celtic rather than of Brythonic origin. By the com- 
mencement of the Christian era the Druids had been driven 
back with their Goidelic subjects into the west and north. 

But we confess that the real argument for the view that 
Druidism existed in Britain is found in Stonehenge and the 
other great stone works. If it be objected that these were 
built by astronomers other than the Druids, the answer is 
that it matters not what they are called. The important point 
32 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

which emerges is the fact that there was some culture and 
learning in Britain long before Rome was founded. 

Again, we cannot agree with the view expressed by W. F. 
Tamblyn that a pan-Celtic Druidism is very difficult to imagine. 
The fact is that we have little, and can expect little, direct 
evidence upon the subject. Caesar, however, states that 
Gaulish youths went to Britain to learn the Druidic mysteries. 
It is perfectly certain that in early times there was continual 
intercommunication between Britain and Gaul. Competent 
observers working on the old legends of magic wells and flooded 
lands, legends common in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, 
have suggested that within a time when the creation of a legend 
was possible land was continuous between Gaul and Erin. This 
theory is not hopelessly opposed to geology. A study of Welsh 
history makes clear the intimate connexion in later times 
between Brittany and Britain. It is worthy of remark that the 
connexion is closest between Brittany and that part of Britain 
which was Brythonic. This consideration, of course, is not 
in favour of our present contention that Goidelic Britain 
and the Goidels of the Continent were in communication. 
We see no fundamental reason for regarding Goidelic inter- 
communication as any more impossible than Brythonic inter- 
communication after the Saxon invasion. 

Degeneration of the Druids 

/ As the old Druidical knowledge was lost — as we beheve it was 
tost — the Druids degenerated into mere sorcerers, medicine- 
men, and charm-sellers. The causes which brought about the 
decline are not known to us. Separation from the wider 
culture of the Bast probably marked its commencement. The 
wars and disorganization which were not improbably con- 
tinuous for centuries before the Christian era probably also 
had their effect. 

As time went on it appears that their wisdom became the 
wisdom of the wizard ; the Druidess becomes a witch. In 
Ireland we find such practices as casting spells while on one 
hand and one foot with one eye closed ; or of driving an 

c 33 



HISTORY OF WALES 

enemy to madness by throwing an accursed wisp of straw 
in the face of the hated one. In Wales it is manifest that the 
reHgious power of the Druids was early broken by the advent of 
Christianity. The old Druidical cult was not improbably at 
an end by the time of Severus. They lived on in name as 
soothsayers and learned men.) Thus in the Book of Taliessin 
we read : 

I travelled in the earth, 

Before I was a proficient in learning. 

I travelled, I made a circuit, 

I slept in a hundred islands, 

A hundred Caers I have dwelt in. 

Ye intelligent Druids, 

Declare to Arthur, 

What is there more early 

Than I that they sing of ? 

And one is come 

From considering the deluge. 

And Christ crucified, 

And the day of future doom, 

A golden gem in a golden jewel. 

I am splendid 

And shall be wanton 

From the oppression of the metal-workers. 

Again, in the poem from the Book of Taliessin entitled 
" The Omen of Prydein the Great " we read : 

Druids foretell what great things will happen. 
From Mynau to I,lydau in their hands will be. 
From Dy ved to Thanet they wiU possess, 
From the light to the groimd along their Abers. 

Druids are mentioned in two other passages in the Book of 
Taliessin, and we have no reason to believe that they were not 
the spiritual chiefs of the Britons from the very earliest times. 

The last line in the first passage quoted above is of interest 
to the student of folk-stories. Johnson in his interesting book 
Folk Memory has pointed out that the Druids and priests of 
the Stone Age had a prejudice against the intruding bronze — 
a prejudice which was shared in later times by their descendants 
in respect of iron. The Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, 
the Romans, all at one time or another shared the same 
34 



THE CIRCLES AND THE DRUIDS 

prejudice. We believe that the poet's protest against " the 
oppression of the metal-workers " has its roots in beliefs and 
opinions of immense antiquity. 

The Later Druids 

Of the later Druids, the wizards and charm-sellers, we do not 
propose to speak at any length. Whether the word Druid 
can be rightly attached to them we do not know. Certain it 
is that in Ireland the Druids were mere wizards in the bad 
sense. They claimed the power of making people invisible. 
They also gave charms, sometimes pieces of v^ew (the oak was 
unknown in Ireland in early times), marked with Ogham in- 
scriptions. Such charms guarded against sickness and other 
evils. In Wales we know that there were guardians of wells 
who would curse or bless for money the enemies or friends of 
their clients. These practices, however, have in truth no 
connexion with the men who raised Stonehenge — no more 
connexion than the charms given in the Saxon Leechdoms 
for curing the elf -sickness ; no more connexion than the later 
beliefs that cromlech mounds were places where fairies danced. 
The fairy dwellings of Ireland have within recent years been 
the subject of some extremely interesting articles which we 
cannot pause to consider. In our opinion, however, these 
fairy stories and superstitions belong to a ruder age than 
either the cromlech or the avenue. The mystery to us is, 
" What happened to the builders of the megaliths ? '* That 
is a question which is still at large 



35 



CHAPTER III 

THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

"^XTTE believe it will be of service to the reader if, before 
\ \ / passing to a consideration of the Brythons, we 

VV summarize the results at which we have arrived 
in the two preceding chapters. 

The period of which we are now speaking is roughly 400 B.C. 
Britain was then inhabited by the pre- Celtic race of the family 
of Semites, together with the Goidelic branch of the Aryans. 
The Semitics were probably the more numerous, and probably 
retained something of their ancient culture. Centuries of 
separation from the learning of the Bast was, however, bring- 
ing about a degradation of their civiUzation. The blighting 
influence of the Aryan wars — ^the nature of which we can only 
guess at — ^tended toward the same result. They still were 
capable, however, of exercising an intellectual ascendancy 
over their conquerors, the Goidels, and had impressed that 
race to some extent with their religion. Their priests, whom 
we have identified, rightly or wrongly, with the Druids, still 
retained some of the ancient learning, but it, too, was becoming 
degraded. They still kept up communication with their 
kinsmen of the Continent and still retained some semblance 
of a social system. 

With the coming of the Brjrthon, as we shall see, this more 
ancient people ^ was driven from the agricultural lands of the 
south back to the pasture-lands of the west and north. The 
Goidels were forced to live among forests and hills. They were 
driven over to Ireland and to Scotland. The centuries which 

1 The earlier races had by now commingled even as the Norman and Saxon 
have done — the period between the Goidelic and the Brythonic invasions 
being about as long as that between the Norman Conquest and the age of the 
Stuarts. 

36 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

followed were, we believe, years of great hardship for the 
conquered people This, again, would bring about a further 
degradation in their culture. In the result, by Caesar's 
time they had become a pastoral people, living in a com- 
paratively primitive manner, lower probably in the scale 
of civilization than the Brythons. 

But even now the lamp of knowledge had not completely 
died out. The Druids still retained some vestiges of culture. 
Perhaps we can go further and credit them with the wisdom of 
which the ancient historians speak. If this be so, unless Caesar 
grossly under-estimated the degree of civilization possessed 
by the people of the interior, we must say that the Druids 
alone had saved from the wreck of Semitic civilization some 
remnants of its learning. The common people were barbarians. 

The above account of the state of Britain before the 
Brythonic invasion may require correction in parts. Thus 
it takes no notice of the fact that some authorities put the 
change from long to round barrows at about 2000 B.C. and 
regard it as synchronizing with an irruption of a pre- Celtic, 
bronze-using, brachycephaHc people. We have rather regarded 
the change from long to round as separate from the in- 
vasion of the bronze-users. There are doubtless many other 
points which we have stated dogmatically which are highly 
contentious. 

Whatever may be the correct view as to the date of the 
invasion of the Celts, or of the change from long to round 
barrows, or of the introduction of bronze, one important fact 
at least emerges from this early time. The pre-Celtic in- 
habitants of Britain were not absolute barbarians. On the 
hypothesis that the pre-Celts in Britain were rude savages 
neither the Circles nor the Druids can be explained. Granted 
an early culture, this difficulty melts away. It is, of course, 
useless to pretend that Neolithic man and man of the early 
Bronze Age were far advanced. The contents of their tombs 
refutes it. They were, however, we believe, as advanced as, 
say, the Hittites. The food vessels which come from their 
barrows were crude in manufacture, but many of the shapes 

37 



HISTORY OF WALES 

show a distinctly artistic sense. If we are right in regarding 
the three chalk objects (see Plate lo) found in a child's tomb 
as belonging to this period, it is obvious that they under- 
stood how to carve and draw quite well. The workmanship 
of some of the Stone Age remains is quite advanced.^ The 
bowman's wrist-guard now preserved in the British Museum, 
which can hardly date much after the introduction of metal, 
is most beautifully finished. The stone will be found to be 
studded with gilded -bronze studs. Examples could easily be 
added to show that although art and the manufacture of 
common objects had not as yet progressed very far, the people 
of even the Stone Age were in many ways civilized. 

The early bronze-users, on the other hand, have handed down 
to us, as we have seen, many beautifully worked and delight- 
fully designed objects in bronze, besides many pieces of pottery, 
food vessels, incense-burners, etc. The relative developments 
of the two races (if indeed they be separate) are, however, 
extremely difficult to determine from these remains. Bronze 
and stone are such different media to work in. Still, the 
introduction of bronze is clearly an advance, though quite 
possibly it might have been made by a people less developed 
in other respects than the stone-users. 

The Brythonic Invasion 

With the coming of the Brython we reach firmer ground. 
It seems to be fairly established that the Goidels became the 
object of the Brythonic conquest some time about the sixth 
century B.C. At first the scene of action was situated on the 
Continent, perhaps around the plains of Northern Italy. With 
this we are not concerned. The actual invasion of Albion 
probably took place some time between the visit of Pytheas 
and the coming of Caesar — i.e. between the fourth and the first 
century B.C. 

The invaders came, not improbably, from the Seine, the 
Marne, and the Rhine. Certain it is that in those neighbour- 

* See, e.g. , the hammer-head shown in Plate 3, a piece of work which could not 
be reproduced to-day without the aid of metal tools or grinding machinery. 

38 






PivATE XI. Bronze Implements, Spear-heads, etc., found at 

Ty Mawr 38 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

hoods extensive burial-places have been discovered similar 
in kind to the Brythonic barrows of Britain. They were, of 
course, Celts. , 

The most important peoples who came into Britain about 
this time would seem to be the Belgae and the sub-tribes 
of, e.g., the Atrebates, the Parisii, and the Brittani. Caesar 
mentions a certain Diviciacos as ruling over Britain. This 
Diviciacos was a prince of Gaul, king of the Suessiones, 
a sub-tribe of the Belgae, and probably a Druid. He was, 
if not actually a contemporary of Caesar, not far removed 
from him in point of time. The Atrebates, who apparently 
settled in Hampshire, and whose chief town was Calleva (now 
Silchester) , came from the Pas de Calais. Their name lingers 
on even yet in the form Arras. The Belgae proper would seem 
to have come over in considerable numbers and to have settled 
in the south central part of the island. The Parisii occupied 
the south-east of Yorkshire, and are not unconnected with 
the tribe who have given their name to Paris. The Brittani 
came, not improbably, from the valley of the Somme, and 
occupied what is now Kent. It is possible that they were the 
first of the Brythonic invaders. Another branch of the same 
tribe settled in north-western France ; from them are descended 
the Bretons of to-day. 

By the time of the Roman occupation it would appear that 
these Brythonic tribes had settled in all the south and east of 
what is now England and Scotland — that is to say, as far north 
as the Firth of Forth. Whether they had reached the west 
is unknown, but in Staffordshire we read of a Roman station 
bearing the name Pennocrucion — a word clearly Brythonic 
in form, since it contains the ' p' foreign to the Goidelic lan- 
guage. ^ On the other hand, if we go to Wales proper for 
our evidence, it would appear that, roughly speaking, what 
was in later times called Powys was probably Brythonic, at 
least before the end of the Roman occupation.] 

^ The ' p ' and ' qu ' forms are now being found to occur occasionally in 
Goidelic and Brythonic respectively. Both ' p ' and ' qu ' are foimd in 
Pictish. See E. W. B. Nicholson, Keltic Researches. 

39 



•Va« it.,; "tv 



HISTORY OF WALES 

South Wales, on the other hand, was inhabited mainly by 
a pre-Celtic people, the Silures. The centre of this tribe may 
be taken for convenience as Caerwent, in Monmouthshire, 
though the exact limits of their territory are unknown.^ They 
were not improbably intermingled with the Goidels, and later, 
as we shall see, they took a prominent part, under the leader- 
ship of Caratacus, in resisting the Romans. 

Their position points to a people who had been driven back 
by the Brythons. Bounded by the Forest of Dean and the 
Severn and the Bristol Channel, protected by the Black 
Mountains, they held a position of great natural strength, a 
position to which a people oppressed by a savage and war- 
like enemy would be likely to fleeV 

[To the west of the Silures, in the part of Wales called in 
later times Dyfed, was another pre-Celtic race, called the 
Demetae (from whence Dyfed gets its name). They too had 
probably a mixture of Goidelic blood, though again we remind 
the reader that modern authorities have suggested that no 
Goidel inhabited Britain at this time. We prefer to follow 
Sir John Rhys. The presence of these Semites can be seen 
to-day in southern Wales. Dark-haired, dark-eyed, bronzed, 
they might be matched by men from Syria. 

; As to the north of Wales the position is more difficult. 
The inhabitants here were probably Celts of the Goidelic branch 
again intermingled with pre-Celtics. Mon had for a long time 
been the centre of the Druids. To-day more cromlechs are to 
be found there than in any other part of Wales of equal size. 
It was probably inhabited by a confederacy of tribes belonging 
to the older stocks. Further than that we cannot go. 

In Caesar's time, of course, no part of what is now Wales 
was inhabited by Brythons. It was still part of Caesar's 
' interior,' the refuge ground of the earlier settlers, who were 
slowly being pushed back by their conquerors. The Brythonic 
conquest of central Wales took place probably early in the 
Christian era. These outposts of the Brythons, the Ordovices, 

^ Tliey probably occupied the lower part of Wales between the Severn and 
the Wye. 

40 




PI.ATE XII. Bronze Mirror, found about 1833 at Trei<an, 

St. KEVERNE, CORNWAtE 



40 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

seem to have established themselves in central Wales. But 
as time went on the earlier settlers, whom they had driven 
to the mountains of the north and south, appear to have 
come near to overwhelming their one-time conquerors. How- 
ever this may be, we find the Ordovices some time about 
the beginning of the fifth century a.d. calling in the aid 
of a Celtic chieftain, Cunedda Wledig, who appears to have 
filled the post of leader of a force of cavalry and was occupied 
in defending the Roman wall in the north, and who was 
a Christian. King Cunedda responded to the appeal, sent 
his sons and tribesmen to aid the Ordovices, and succeeded 
vicariously in founding the Brythonic royal house of Gwynedd. 
These events, which belong to the end of the Roman occu- 
pation, we shall have occasion to refer to. again. For our 
present purpose it is sufficient to point out that at first the 
Brythonic conquest was restricted to southern, eastern, and 
midland England ; later it spread to central Wales, still later to 
Kryri and the mountains of the north. \ 

But although the Brythonic Celt at first inhabited England 
rather than Wales, it is necessary to bear in mind that when the 
protection of Rome was removed and the barbarian hordes 
from Scandinavia and Germany bore down on the Brythons 
the one-time conquerors were in turn driven from the fertile 
plains of England to the mountains of the west and north. 
We can still hear the cry of the vanquished Celt, preserved 
to us by the Brython Gildas. As the late Dr. Hodgkin tells 
us : "In 446 the poor remnants of the Britons send their 
celebrated letter to that Roman general whose name was at 
the time most famous among men : the letter which began, 
* To Aetius, thrice consul, the groans of the Britons,' and 
went on to say, ' The barbarians drive us to the sea : the 
sea drives us back on the barbarians : we have but a choice 
between two modes of dying, either to have our throats cut 
or to be drowned.' " As all the world knows, Aetius did not 
respond. He was too busy fighting against the Huns to spare 
men for the defence of Britain. The result was, we believe, 
that England was swept well-nigh from shore to shore by the 

41 



HISTORY OF WALES 

barbarians. Save in a subject state, the earlier inhabitants 
lived no longer there. They still, however, continued to be 
free in the west and north, particularly in Cornwall, Wales, 
and Cumberland. It is therefore the people of those districts 
who are directly descended from the Celtic races, and especially 
from the Brythons. 

Since, then, the Welsh of to-day are directly descended from 
the Brythons (and more remotely from the Semites and 
Goidels), since they are, in fact, the true Britons, some account 
of this race seems desirable. 

Description of the Brythons 

The Brythons, like the Gauls, were men of much physical 
beauty. Tall,^ clean-shaven, save for long moustaches, with 
clear red and white complexions and hair of yellow or golden 
brown, which they sometimes attempted to improve with dye, 
dressed in the characteristic Gallic breeches, with a bright- 
coloured sleeved tunic and a woollen cloak, frequently of red 
or crimson, sometimes intricately decorated with a chequered 
pattern, and fastened at the throat with bronze or gold brooches 
of most beautiful design, with torques of gold about their necks 
and golden bracelets on their arms, the British warriors 
appeared indeed to belong to a noble race. 

Brythonic or Late Celtic Art 

Their arms were no whit less handsome than their persons. 
Daggers, swords, shields, helmets, the many articles of offence 
and defence which were to be found in the soldier's armoury in 
that age, were all designed to give an impression of stately 
beauty. We know of no form of art which gives such a feeling 
of strength as does that of the I^ate Celtic period. No weak 
or mean line will ever be found on a piece of I^ate Celtic work. 
Nor were they only artists ; they were also craftsmen. As 
Mr. J. Romilly Allen says : " The Celts had already become 
expert workers in metal before the close of the Bronze Age ; 

^ Strabo tells us that British youths were six inches taller than the tallest 
man in Rome. 

42 





-.<S&;l:j.i.»^ >'>*''' 



PivATE XIII. Bronze and Enamei. Shield of 
Late CeiiTic Work 



42 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

they could make beautiful hollow castings for the chafes 
of their sword-sheaths ; they could beat out bronze into thin 
plates and rivet them together sufficiently well to form water- 
tight cauldrons ; they could ornament their circular bronze 
shields and golden diadems with repousse patterns, consisting 
of corrugations and rows of raised bosses ; and they were not 
unacquainted with the art of engraving on metals." He adds : 
" The Celt of the Early Iron Age attained to a still higher pro- 
ficiency in metallurgy than his predecessor of the Bronze Age." 

By about the first century B.C. lyate Celtic art had probably 
reached its height. Even at this time the art of enamelling 
was probably extensively practised in Britain. ^ Some of the 
specimens which have been found show a most cultured 
artistic sense. Perhaps one of the best examples of I^ate 
Celtic work is the shield which was dredged out of the Thames 
near Battersea. Of this Allen says : " [It] is about the most 
beautiful surviving piece of I^ate Celtic metal-work. . . . No 
written description can give any idea of the subtle decorative 
effect produced by the play of light on the flamboyant curves 
as they alternatively expand and contract in width and rise and 
fall above the surrounding level background. The drawing 
of the curves is simply exquisite, and their beauty is greatly 
enhanced by the sharp line used in all cases to emphasize 
the highest part of the ridge." 

It is, of course, impossible in a general history to deal more 
than in the barest outline with the art treasures of any age. 
We must add, however, that the Brythons have left us many 
examples of objects of art unconnected with either warfare 
or personal adornment. Thus bronze mirrors have been 
found ; also a few pieces of decorative wood-work, one of which, 
a tub of ash, had its surface covered with flowing and graceful 
curves carved into the wood. We have also remains of bronze 

^ Philostratus, a Greek sopliist at the court of JuKa Domna, wife of the 
Emperor Severus, writing at the beginning of the third century a.d., tells 
us that " they say that the barbarians who live in the ocean pour these 
colours on to heated brass, and that they adhere, become hard as stone, and 
preserve the designs that are made upon them." He was about three hundred 
years behind the times 

43 



HISTORY OF WALES 

spoons and otlier domestic utensils. Spinning and weaving 
must have been extensively practised. From almost every 
iniiabited site of the period quantities of long-handled weaving- 
combs, spindle-wheels, and loom-weights have been recovered. 
Antiquaries have also found many objects connected with 
horsemanship. It will be remembered that Caesar was 
astonished and surprised at the wonderful horsemanship of 
the Britons, and the Gauls for centuries supplied Rome with 
some of her best cavalry. It is therefore not a matter for 
surprise that many articles relating to horsemanship have been 
preserved. Bridles, horse-trappings, and chariot-wheels have 
been found, and of the first-named hundreds, if not thousands, 
of examples are known. 

It is to this period that we must date the introduction of the 
potter's wheel into Britain. It is upon Late Celtic pottery that 
the circular rings which show that it was turned are first found. 
These earthenware vessels naturally gain in symmetry from the 
change. The general lines on which they are designed are not, 
however, very obviously altered. Perhaps it is to this period 
also that we should ascribe the introduction of the water-clock. ^ 
This new means of telhng the time consisted of a large bowl 
with a tiny hole in the bottom. The bowl was placed on 
water and the time it took to fill was observed. That gave 
a constant by which it was possible to divide up the day 
and night. The water-clock was, so to speak, the inverse of 
the hour-glass. 

The Brythons possessed boats and ladders, and appear to 
have had a considerable knowledge of the working of wood 
as well as metal. Commerce was not unknown. They used 
coins, 2 sometimes of gold, which were modelled on those of 
Philip II of Macedon. 

Domestic Arrangements of the Brythons 

It was perhaps in the arrangement and equipment of their 
homes that the Brythons appeared most barbarous. I^ike 

^ It is possible that it dates from, the Bronze Age. 
* For an account of these coins see Note B, p. 415. 

44 



II 



^ / 




Pi,ATE XIV. The Ayi<esford Paii, 

A good example of Late Celtic work 



44 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

the Goidelic dwelling-places, the huts of the later Celts assorted 
ill with the magnificence of their occupants. These huts 
would seem to have been, in general, circular in shape, with 
clay floors, having a fireplace in the centre. The walls were of 
timber filled in with wattle and daub. Bach hut was entered by 
a door, to which there was a doorstep. The occupants slept upon 
straw beds covered with the skins of animals or with blankets 
of wool. The huts were built in groups, similar to the ham- 
let. In many ways these domestic arrangements resembled 
those of the later homes and hamlets of the Welsh. 

The Brythons would appear to have been an agricultural 
rather than a pastoral people. They reaped their grain with 
iron reaping-hooks, and probably ploughed with oxen and not 
with horses. They possessed, of domestic animals, besides 
the horse and the ox, sheep, swine, goats, dogs, and fowls. 

Nature of the Brythons 

Without entering into further details, we believe, from what 
we have already said, that it will be seen that the Brythonic 
warrior who conquered this island, or rather the major 
portion of it, some time about 400 B.C. was, even before the 
coming of the Romans, by no means a savage, hardly a 
barbarian. To the cultured minds of Rome — Rome^ which 
had emerged from its own Bronze Age only a few centuries 
before — ^the Gaul and the Brython appeared as rude warriors 
fit for little but fighting. They observed that, though brave 
and warlike, the Celts were disputatious, easily provoked, 
generous, unsuspicious but swayed by passion rather than 
by reason, and easily vanquished by stratagem. As M. 
Porcius Cato said, " There are two things to which the Gauls 
are devoted — ^the art of war and subtlety of speech." We are 
also told that they were very eager for news.^ They were, we 
believe, completely dominated by their priests, the Druids, and 

1 Mr. T. W. Rolleston in his Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race happily 
quotes from Edinimd Spenser the passage : " The Irish use commonlye to 
send up and down to know newes, and yf any meet with another, his second 
woorde is. What newes ? " The same peculiarity was noticed by the ancient 
travellers in GauJ. 

45 



HISTORY OF WALES 

were extremely superstitious. It is perhaps desirable to warn 
the reader against relying too much on the Greek and Roman 




The Grave Pit, Ayi,esford 
From Archcsologia, by permission of the Society of Antiquaries of Ivondon. ; 

historians when they write of the Britain of pre-Roman times. 
Did not Procopius, writing in the sixth century a.d,, describe 
what we now call Scotland as a place where no man could live 
for half an hour on account of the unwholesomeness of the 

46 



' "<SLi!i^ 


'^m 


■^m 


^^Ui, 




M 


i^^^ 


^^^^ 


^^^M 


^^^^^^^ 


^^^^^^^^m 


^^ 


.* 


ill 


m 


H 




1 



Pirate XV. A Biwnguai, Inscription found at Nevern, 
Pembrokeshire 

Photograph of a rubbing 

From " AvchcBologia Cambrensis," 6th Series, vol. xiii, by permission 



46 



THE BRYTHONIC CONQUEST 

air, and because it was infested with vipers and all kinds 
of noxious beasts ? Caesar's knowledge of the interior of 
Britain was admittedly small, and the other writers who touch 
on Britain (apart from the Roman occupation) are in like case. 
We therefore prefer to follow the evidence of the burial-places. 
From these we gather that the Brythons had art ; they had com- 
merce. Their domestic arrangements were rude, perhaps, but 
not to the extent of being barbarous. They practised agriculture 
on an extensive scale. They had, we believe, if not a litera- 
ture, at least a large number of legendary poems and stories. 
We shall have to consider in a subsequent chapter the con- 
nexion between that mass of romance which, centring round 
the name of Arthur, spread over well-nigh the whole of Europe, 
and the Brythonic tales which have been preserved to us 
to-day by such mediaeval works as the Red Book of Hergest, 
the Black Book of Carmarthen, and the Brut Geoffrey ap 
Arthur (Geoffrey of Monmouth), and have been familiarized 
to the general reader by the delightful translation of certain 
of those works by Lady Charlotte Guest in her MaUnogion. 
For the present it is sufficient to say that modern authority 
has almost decided that the Arthur stories are, in their origin 
at least, as old as the I^ate Celtic art, if not older. Taking 
all these facts together, we must acquit them of complete 
barbarity in spite of their predilection for woad when preparing 
for battle ! 



47 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

NO man can say to-day how mucli the world is in- 
debted to the genius of Rome. We are told that 
Bast is East and West is West, ages apart in point 
of development, temperamentally different on almost every 
point. Rome is the West. Her civilization, built up by 
men of matchless prudence and practical insight, has swayed 
the Western world at least since Caesar's time. Her laws, 
the foundation-stones of all her civil greatness, the true 
creators of a very living liberty, are to-day in operation in 
almost every European State. ^ Her very wars brought bless- 
ings to the conquered as well as to the conquerors. 

When Caesar stepped on to the sands of Albion he saw a 
race of men brave and warlike, men who had some knowledge 
of the arts and commerce and whose native vigour was in the 
years to come to join with the more stolid Teuton in the 
forming of a race destined for world-empire ; capable of a 
more marvellous gift for government than even Rome herself. 
Mighty fighters and great statesmen were to spring from the 
junction of Celt and Saxon, but as yet, in Caesar's time, the 
Celt of Britain was not far advanced in point of develop- 
ment from those brave warriors who, well-nigh four centuries 
before, had in their turn borne down on Rome, leaving it a 
broken and a ravaged city. When the usurper Constantine 
left these shores in 407 and the Roman occupation was 
ended, the legions left behind them a highly civilized and 
organized community, acquainted with Roman government, 

^ Including, in our opinion, England, though there are many who claim 
for EngUsh law an indigenous growth, 

48 




□ ROMAN FORTS 

_ Other Roman sites including 
doubtful forts 
(Other sites probably not Roman) 

^ ENGLISH MILES 

_D _S 10 20 30 4Q ; 



Map op Roman Waives 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

laws, literature, art, and architecture. Was it not a native, 
a Briton, who, in the panic which gripped Romanized Gaul 
when the Vandals swept down on southern Europe, dividing 
Gaul and Spain and the north from the protection of Rome, 
now, alas ! tottering to her final overthrow, was chosen head 
of the government in England and invested with the imperial 
purple, crowned with a diadem and surrounded by a body- 
guard ? Though Gratian, as this Briton was called, was 
murdered within four months, his elevation shows that we are 
now no longer dealing with an uncivilized or unenlightened 
people. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that Rome 
gave the Western world Government, even as Greece gave it 
Art. 

Caesar's Expeditions 

Of Caesar's abortive attempt at conquest, commencing with 
the mission of Commius, the embarkation from Cape Gris- 
nez on August 26,55 B.C., of the Seventh and Tenth I^egions 
under Caesar, the gallantry of the standard-bearer of the 
Tenth lyCgion, who forced his comrades to follow him in the 
attack on the barbarians lest the eagle should fall into the 
hands of the enemy ; of the attack by the Brythons, mounted 
on horseback or in chariots ; of their eventual defeat and 
orderly retreat; of the destruction of a large part of the Roman 
ships by an unusually high tide ; of the subsequent guerrilla 
warfare and ambuscades, we cannot treat. The expedition 
was a failure and Caesar returned to Gaul. Next year a larger 
force set sail on July 23 from the Portus Itius. Again the 
ships were broken by a storm, again, after some excursions 
against Cassivellaunus, Caesar retired to Gaul. He never 
returned to the attack. Anxious times were ahead — ^the 
massacre by the Eburones, the revolt of Vercingetorix, the 
sieges of Gergovia and Alesia. It was reserved to Aulus 
Plautius, a senator in the reign of Claudius, to lead the 
successful expedition in a.d. 43. 

As to the ninety-seven years which separate these expedi- 
tions, nothing is known of the Britons save such^meagre 

D " 49 



HISTORY OF WALES 

details as may be gathered from their coins. ^ We know at 
least the names of King Commius (perhaps the same person 
who acted as ambassador to Caesar and, later, joined in the 
revolt of Vercingetorix, subsequently submitting to Mark 
Antony on the terms that he should be allowed to dwell in a 
place where he would never be offended by the sight of a 
Roman) and his sons Tincommius, Verica, and Eppilus. 
Dubnovellaunus, whose name appears as a king of Britain 
on the walls of a porch in a temple in the Turkish town of 
Angora, also struck a number of coins. These kings probably 
reigned south of the Thames. On the north side we have 
coins of Tasciovanus, whose capital was at St. Albans, and his 
son Cunobelinus, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare's play and 
the Kymbelinus of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Their date is 
about the commencement of the Christian era. It was against 
Cunobelinus or his sons, Caratacus or Caractacus or Caradoc ^ 
and Togodumnus, that Aulus Plautius mainly fought. They 
were the chiefs of the Catuvellauni, and their power was con- 
siderable until the Romans broke it, chiefly by the capture 
of Camulodunum, their capital. Cunobelinus was now dead ; 
Caratacus escaped to Demetia and raised up the Silures, who 
dwelt there, to make a final effort to retain their Hberty. 
By A.D. 47 most of Britain south of the Thames had been 
brought within the Empire. In that year Aulus Plautius left 
this island, being succeeded by Ostorius Scapula. Almost the 
first act of the new legate was to push rapidly over the central 
plains to Cheshire, where he established at modern Chester the 
famous military base whence the Twentieth I^egion was to 
attempt the conquest of western and northern Britain. 

The success which had met the Roman arms had been, 
so far, very considerable. The fields of what is now southern 
and central England, or Ivloegria, were in their hands. Ostorius 
was to find, however, that the mountains of Wales enabled 
their holders to offer a very different resistance. For him no 

1 See Note B, p. 415. 

2 The better ^Welsh spelling of Caradoc is Caradog, pronounced not unlike 
'Craddock.' 

50 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

ovation was prepared such as had fallen to the lot of Plautius. 
He was destined to die a few years hence, worn out with the 
fatigues of constant warfare, a disappointed if not a broken 
man. 

At the moment, however, Fortune continued to turn her 
sightless eyes toward Rome. From Chester the legionaries 
pushed on quickly into the territory of the Deceangi, who 
occupied the district called in later times Tegeingl, the modern 
Flintshire. There the valuable lead-mines were opened and 
worked. Perhaps even as early as this the fort at Caerhun 
was founded, and the beginning made in the building of that 
series of minor forts and blockhouses which, as we shall see, 
was eventually adopted as the only way in which to bring 
these brave mountain folk to subjection.'' 

Caratacus 

_From the north Ostorius passed to southern Wales and 
attacked the Silures under Caratacus. These Silures, a 
Goidelic or perhaps pre-Celtic people, would appear to have 
made a lengthy stand against the Roman arms. The campaign 
not improbably lasted for some years, and we can quite 
believe that Caratacus won many battles, though in truth 
the Roman historian slurs over this, to him, unpleasant part 
of the story. The end of his leadership came with what 
we will call the battle of Mount Caradoc, though indeed the 
exact locality is disputed. This hill overlooks the pretty 
little town of Church Stretton, on the Welsh border.^ <^^..... 

Caratacus exerted himself to the utmost and spurred on 
his followers to a desperate resistance. Entrenched behind 
a roughly made wall, these poor barbarian patriots who fought 
the Empire for their freedom were for a time successful, but 
at last their defence was pierced and the well trained, equipped, 
and armoured legionaries overwhelmed the irregular and ill- 
armed ranks of the defenders. The victory was complete, 

^ Many opinions have been held as to the exact locality of the battle. 
It is quite uncertain where it was fought. Several authorites favour the 
I^eintwardine site. 

51 



HISTORY OF WALES 

though Caratacus himself escaped for the time being. His 
army was shattered, his wife, his daughter, and his kinsfolk 
fell into the hands of the conqueror. He himself was shortly 
afterward treacherously surrendered by the queen of the 
Brigantes, a tribe located in Yorkshire, loaded with chains. 
The Romans took him, his wife, child, and brethren, captive to 
Rome, where they did him the honour of declaring a public 
holiday so that the citizens might witness the submission of 
this brave defender of his country. He bore himself like a 
man and was pardoned by Claudius. We do not read of his 
return to Britain. The splendours of Rome seem to have 
captivated him. 

The defeat of Caratacus by no means resulted in the 
immediate break-up of the resistance of the Silures. They 
continued for years to be a thorn in the side of the Roman 
legate, and eventually it was found necessary to establish 
another great legionary fortress at Caerleon-upon-Usk, the 
Isca Silurum of Tacitus. This great centre of Roman arms 
was now occupied by lyCgio II Augusta, and from this strong- 
hold a whole chain of forts and blockhouses was built with 
the purpose of subduing central and southern Wales. 

BOADICEA 

■ It would be out of place in a history of Wales to consider 
in any detail the history of the Roman wars which followed, 
under the leadership first of Didius Gallus and Veranius, 
and later of Suetonius (appointed legate a.d. 59). We must, 
however, mention the terrible massacre of the Roman colony 
at Camulodunum (Colchester), and of the Ninth I^egion, 
which was surprised while marching to its rescue. This 
was the work of Boadicea,^ queen of the Iceni, a Brythonic 
tribe, which had been roused to madness by the usurious 
exactions of that money-lending philosopher Seneca (who 
had lent some 10,000,000 sesterces at ruinous rates to these 
people, and later suddenly called in his loans) and by the ill- 
treatment of the widow and the violation of the daughters of 

^ More correctly Boudicca. 
52 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

King Prasutagus, late king of the tribe. His widow was tliis 
Boadicea, who is described by the Greek historian Dion 
as a woman tall of stature, hard-faced and fierce-eyed, with 
long yellow hair reaching down to her girdle?) 

[At the time this massacre occurred Suetonius was attempt- 
ing the conquest of the Druids of Anglesey. The Roman leader 
had succeeded in clearing away part of the sacred groves 
which for so long had been the silent witnesses of the human 
sacrifices which were part of the rites of the priests of 
Druidism, but before Anglesey was completely conquered the 
terrible news of Camulodunum arrived. Suetonius hastily 
gathered his forces, and by forced marches reached Ivondinium, 
which now for the first time appears on the pages of history. 
His army consisted of the Fourteenth and part of the Twentieth 
lyCgion. In the meantime Verulam (St. Albans) had been 
put to the sword by Boadicea. Suetonius, to his dismay, 
learnt that the commander of the Second IvCgion had remained 
at his station at Caerleon-upon-Usk, although he had been 
appealed to for aid. He therefore found it necessary to 
abandon I^ondon in order to effect the junction of his forces 
with the remainder of the Ninth Legion, which had managed 
to reach Lincoln, and such part of the Twentieth as he had 
left at Chester. Boadicea sought to prevent this, and con- 
stantly harried the Roman general in his northward march. 
At last the Romans decided on battle. The result was an 
overwhelming victory for the legionaries, who are said to have 
slaughtered some 80,000 of the Britons for a loss of some 
800 on their own side. Boadicea herself died either by poison 
self-administered or by disease. Almost simultaneously the 
leader of the Second Legion ended his life with his 
sword. The result of the insurrection was that Rome 
decided og, a more pacific policy, and Suetonius was recalled 
in A.D. 6iA\ 

Following Suetonius came Julius Frontinus He pushed on 
into Wales, having beforehand completed the conquest of the 
south. Wales too he reduced to a temporary obedience, and 
between the years 74-78 he finally subdued the Silures. The 

53 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Ordovices of North Wales were still, however, untamed. 
Affairs were in this state when Agricola was appointed legate 
in A.D. 78. 

Agricola 

Almost on his arrival, though it was now autumn, he 
decided on a disciplinary campaign against the Ordovices of 
north central Wales, who had lately destroyed a squadron 
of Roman cavalry. Agricola marched against them with 
an army of legionaries and allies. The Ordovices wisely 
retired to the hills of Denbighshire. Agricola followed and 
defeated them, and, pushing onward, reached the Menai Strait. 
This narrow stretch of water offered an obstacle to further 
advance, for the Romans had no ships. Nothing daunted, 
Agricola sent over swimmers. Surprised, and remembering 
the havoc which Suetonius had wrought among them, the 
islanders refrained from giving battle and submitted. 

Agricola now set himself the statesmanlike task of proving 
to the barbarians that they lost little by being conquered by 
Rome. He cleansed the administration, fostered art and 
architecture, encouraged building, and had the more important 
natives educated in the liberal sciences and (perhaps to their 
great harm and final undoing) taught them the meaning 
of luxury. Not improbably he also introduced Roman law 
and the principles of Roman commerce. We believe that the 
Roman system of marketing, with market law and a market 
judge, was introduced in early times into Britain and lived on 
in full force into Anglo-Saxon days, the curule aediles of 
the Romans being represented later by the ' portgeref a ' of 
the dooms of Aethelstan. It may be that it came in under 
the wise government of Agricola. We think it is evident that 
the laws of Howel Dha ('the Good'), the great Welsh code 
of the tenth century, contained many rules based on Roman 
law. Whether this was due to the fact that the Welsh traced 
themselves from the Brythons, who had for centuries lived 
under Roman rule and probably Roman law, or whether the 
Welsh lawyers who compiled these laws had before them the 

54 




2 ^ 



W -2 
J 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

Continental codes, which in their turn borrowed much from 
Rome, we are not prepared to say. 

Agricola, while thus engaged in the higher arts of conquest, 
was not permitted to pursue a purely pacificist policy. There 
were, in the years that followed, numerous excursions, battles, 
and victories. With these we are not concerned. Agricola 
evidently pursued the military plan of reducing the country 
to subjection or impotence by a well linked up system of 
fortified camps. 

It is these very forts and camps, together with the civilian 
towns which grew up around them, that tell us most about 
the three hundred and twenty-three years which separate the 
recall of Agricola from the final departure of the legions 
from Britain. As Professor Haverfield has said, " The spade 
is mightier than the pen," and although he has accused Welsh 
antiquaries of failing to scratch the soil in search of knowledge, 
he has well-nigh remedied the neglect, and has given us an 
adequate account of the Roman military occupation of this 
land of mountains. 

Pacification of Wales 

It is probable that we can date the building of most of these 
forts to the last quarter of the first century a.d. The mihtary 
result was the pacification of Wales. Professor Haverfield 
has told us that " From the autumn of 78 onwards we hear no 
more of Welshmen armed against Rome. The tribes of north 
Britain rose, not once only, but once every twenty years, till 
near the end of the second century. The tribes of Wales did 
not move. Forty or fifty years later Roman authority was so 
strong that garrisons could be reduced and troops could 
be withdrawn from some of the fortified camps which guarded 
the country." 

Let us now see what brought about this change of affairs. 
The starting-points were the legionary fortresses of Chester 
(Twentieth Legion) and Caerleon (Second Legion), some 
twelve miles to the north-east of Cardiff. Beginning with 
these as centres, forts were planted in North Wales at Caerhun, 

55 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Caernarvon, Tomen-y-Mur, Caergai, Pennal, Caersws, Caerflos, 
Wroxeter, and Hope. It is also believed that there was a 
small blockhouse built in Anglesey, and many small forts 
other than those mentioned above were doubtless scattered 
over North Wales. In the south, starting with Caerleon 
as centre, we have remains of forts at Caerwent, Cardiff, 
Aber, Caermarthen, Cwmbrwyn, Coelbren, midway between 
Caerleon and Caermarthen, Penydarren, a little farther to 
the east, Gellygaer, midway between Penydarren and Caerleon. 
Still farther east, making an apex to the equilateral triangle 
having the line between Caerleon and Caerwent as base, was 
Usk. Farther north was Abergavenny, while nearly forty 
miles to the north-east the fort at I^landovery, with the famous 
camp of Gaer linking them up, was placed. Connecting this 
post with the forts of the north were Castell Collen to the north- 
east and lylanio to the north-west. 

To mention all the smaller blockhouses which excavations 
and research have discovered would be to burden the text 
unduly with place-names.^ It is, however, desirable to enter 
upon a short description of these forts, the roads joining 
them, and the objects of interest which have been found 
in them. 

Roman Forts 

These military stations were of three kinds : (i) Legionary 
fortresses, capable of holding the 5000 men who made up a 
legion, with their arms and equipment, including food-stuffs ; 
(2) forts to be held by a cohort or ala of 500 {cohors quingenaria 
if of foot- soldiers, ala quingenaria if of cavalry) or 1000 men 
[cohors miliaria, ala miliaria) ; (3) blockhouses, manned by 
outposts, whose number would vary according to necessity. 

1 Roman remains have been found at Hay ; Ffrith ; Pontrnfydd Hall ; 
Rhyddgaer (the small blockhouse in Anglesey referred to in the text) ; 
Dolaucothy and Pimipsaint, in the parish of Caio, where gold-mines were 
worked by the Romans ; Penygaer, midway between Gaer and Abergavenny ; 
Neath and I^oughor, on the South Wales coast ; and at Pyle, Castle Flemish, 
and Ford, near St. David's. Some of these remains leave it doubtful whether 
forts were built in some of the places mentioned. 

56 




Plate XYII. vSeatkd Figure of a 

Goddess 

From " ArchcBologia," vol. Ixii, bv permission of the 

Society of Antiquaries of London 



56 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

In none of the military posts were women permitted to reside. 
In none were civilians allowed to live. In none were baths 
to be found. It must not be thought that the Roman soldier 
did not bathe. The Romans had a saying that they con- 
quered the world with the 
strigil ^ rather than with the 
sword. The meaning of this 
was that the bath, together 
with the gymnastic exercises 
connected therewith, ren- 
dered the muscles so supple 
and strong that the Roman 
soldier rarely met his match 
in hand-to-hand fighting. 
It is therefore to be ex- 
pected that a bath would 
generally be found near a 
fort. In fact, these were 
always placed just outside 
the fort wall, near a well or 
a stream. The bath used 
was the hot-air type invented 
by Sergius Orata, who lived 
in the time of 1/. Crassus, 

the orator. 2 These baths were doubtless placed outside the 
camp for the same reason that, in the laws of Howel, forbade 
baths and smithies within a defined distance of a hamlet — the 
risk of fire was too great. 

The fort itself, whether large or small, was generally of the 
same type. Enclosed by a rectangular wall having rounded 

1 The scraper used like the rubber in a modern Turkish bath. It was the 
emblem of the bath, and a representation of it was frequently sculptiured 
over the main doorway. 

• We need hardly remind the reader that the bath, though a source of 
Roman strength in the beginning, was a cause, among many others, of 
Roman decadence. Such practices as bathing in asses' milk or in water 
loaded with perfumes became fashionable. Mixed bathing, of course, early 
became common, and in the later Empire an altogether extravagant amount 
of tiine and money were spent on the baths. 

57 




Roman Strigii,s 



HISTORY OF WALES 

corners and sometimes protected by one or two ditches, 
the main buildings, which were sometimes of stone, some- 
times of brick, and sometimes of wood, or an admixture of 
all three, consisted of a central headquarters for the oJficers, 
commandant, and staff, a granary and stables, and, as a rule, 
on the other side of the central building a series of barracks for 
the soldiers. Between the outer wall and the inner buildings 




Pi,AN OP A Roman Fort at Housesteads, on Hadrian's Wai,i; 

From Professor F. J. Haverfield's Military Aspects of Roman Wales, 
by permission of the author. 



was a parade-ground, entered from the outside by four door- 
ways symmetrically placed. 

Outside the walls of the fort, as time went on, a small or 
large town would grow up. The inhabitants, taking advantage 
of the peace which the presence of the soldiers created, drove 
a thriving trade with the soldiers, each other, and the surround- 
ing districts. As a natural development, we find definite 
industries being established in certain places, perhaps by 
the townsmen ; though it is probable that the soldiers kept 

58 




Plate XVIII. Caerwent : The Round Temple 
From "ArchcBologia," by permission of the Society of Antiquaries of London 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

in their own hands the profits which accrued from, if not 
the working of, the copper-, lead-, and gold-mines which were 
opened in Wales. 

The Influence of Roman Civilization on Britain 

It will of course be known to the reader that the Roman 
army was a long-service force. It was a life-work to be a 
Roman soldier, and consequently it was necessary to provide 
the worn-out veteran with a means of livelihood after his 
retirement from the service. The means adopted was the 
granting of land, rent and tax free, sometimes the granting 
of citizenship (many of the auxiliary forces were made up of 
peregrini, or of persons holding the status of lyatins), with its 
many advantages. Further, from quite early times in the 
Empire the soldier on service was allowed to keep the profits 
of war (jyeculium castrense), which did not, like all other kinds 
of property, pass to the head of his family (his agnatic pater). 
The result was that many retired soldiers, some of whom 
had doubtless made fortunes in the course of their military 
careers, were dotted up and down England and Wales, 
established in broad acres and housed in pleasant villas of the 
Roman type.^ 

Another result flowed from the long-service system. Inter- 
marriage with the people of the district governed was in- 
evitable. We will not torment the reader with an account 
of the laws (which date from the first century of the Empire) 
dealing with intermarriage between the various classes which 
made up the Roman state. It is fairly obvious, however, 

1 with regard to the nature of the Roman occupation and as to whether it 
was purely miUtary or whether it profoundly affected the people of early 
Britain, we consider the matter later. We add here the accovmt given by 
Giraldus of Caerwent as it existed in his day. " Many signs of its former 
splendour are still visible : great palaces ornamented in past times with gilded 
roofs, in imitation of Roman magnificence, for they were first raised by Roman 
princes, and beautified with fine buildings ; a town of immense size, remarkable 
hot baths, remains of temples and theatres, all encircled by fine walls, parts 
of which stiU remain. You may find there on all sides, both within and 
without the walls, imderground buildings, aqueducts, subterraneous passages ; 
and, what I think deserves notice, stoves contrived with strange art to 
transmit the heat insensibly through narrow tubes passing up the side walls." 

59 



HISTORY OF WALES 

that these enactments had in view, partly at any rate, the 
Roman soldier who was fighting Rome's battles on the frontier. 
The result was to bring the wife and the children within the 
sacred class of Roman citizens. In many cases, in well-nigh 
all, she became as high in social status as a Junian I^atin. 
She was, in fact, neither a concubine nor a slave. The result 
was highly important both to Rome and to its subject 
states. When all is done and said, the bonds which spring 
from matrimony are one of the great binding forces of the 
world, fit is therefore desirable to point out that for at least 
three cehturies twelve thousand Roman soldiers — many of them 
citizens of Rome — were intermarrying with British women, 
and the children of these unions would be Roman citizens in 
many cases. Considering that Britain at that time was not 
thickly populated, remembering that about 10,000 of these 
troops were located in or near Wales, and bearing in mind that 
many of these soldiers, having married and having had families, 
doubtless retired to pleasant villas to spend the evening of 
their lives in ease and plenty with their British wives and 
Brito-Roman children, it will, we believe, be clear to the 
reader that the Roman occupation must have affected very 
vitally the lives of the people of this island. ; 

ROMANIZATION OF BrITAIN 

Remembering the saying of Strabo that the Celts were a 
people eager for culture, we cannot be surprised to find scattered 
all over England and Wales remains which show, we believe 
quite clearly, that the Celts of both England and Wales were, 
toward the end of the occupation, fairly imbued with the 
Roman civilization. Until within quite recent years the view 
most commonly taken by historians has been that the occupa- 
tion was purely military and that the evidence of Roman luxury 
is limited to small areas surrounding military posts. The writers 
who argue thus support their contentions by pointing out that 
inscriptions found relate mainly to soldiers and rarely to 
civilians ; that the privileged municipalities were few ; that 
the native speech (now Welsh) differs entirely from I^atin and 
60 




Plate 



BlLINGUAI, SEPUI^CHRAI, MONUMENT 



60 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

has derived but few words from lyatin. We confess that we 
should have thought the burden of evidence pointed the other 
way. It is true that the occupation was, if we view the matter 
narrowly, a military one, but the disposition of the legions — 
viz. the Second at Gaerleon-upon-Usk (later to Richborough, 
near the Isle of Thanet), the Ninth, or subsequently the Sixth 
(after the final destruction of that legion by the barbarians 
in the reign of Hadrian), at York, and the Twentieth at 
Chester — shows that it was almost entirely directed against 
what is now Wales on the west and Caledonia or Scotland 
on the north (and later against the Saxon pirates, who were 
already beginning to be troublesome, on the south-east). It 
is fairly clear that the bulk of the soldiers in Britain were 
generally employed in keeping the Wall which stretched 
from the Tyne to the Solway, or in guarding the Welsh 
marches. The part of Britain now called England would seem 
to have been peaceful. This is shown by the Roman remains 
which we find all over England — magnificent roads, villas, 
towns, inscriptions showing the prevalence of the Roman 
religions, including Mithraism (which, Oriental in origin, seems 
to have been well favoured by the soldiers in Britain) and 
Christianity, which, of course, was the dominant religion of 
the Empire after the accession of Constantine, and probably 
long before — it quite possibly was introduced into Britain 
in the second century, or even earlier. It is also shown by 
the vast commercial advance made by the country, an advance 
which alone can account for the cosmopolitan crowds which 
came into Britain about this time. Many of these were 
doubtless soldiers who had been enlisted in far-off provinces, but 
that does not explain the presence of a Syrian merchant whose 
memory is preserved to us in those touching lines engraved 
in two languages on a sepulchral monument, which tell of 
his love for his wife Regina, a Briton. After a fuller I^atin 
inscription follows one in Oriental characters. It reads : 
" Regina, the freedwoman of Barate, alas ! " This same 
stone also represents this British woman, sometime a slave, 
holding a jewel-box and implements of needlework. 

6i 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Again, is not the civilizing influence of Rome proved by 
such discoveries as that of a glass manufactory of considerable 
size which has been found near the Manchester Ship Canal 
at Warrington ? The enormous number of examples of Samian 
ware, coins, and objects of domestic ornament scattered up 
and down the country point the same way. 

It is a moot point, but one which deserves much attention, 
as to whether the form of land tenure which existed in 
Wales for centuries, and which lived on in England in a 
modified form and was merged into the Continental feudal 
system (with an important variation due to the political 
genius of William I), is not descended from the Roman villa 
system. We believe that this and similar questions can only 
be rightly understood when the fact is appreciated that the 
Anglo-Saxons, when they invaded Britain, were barbarians 
invading a rich and prosperous country inhabited in the 
main by a highly civilized people. These people, the Brythons, 
were, of course, the direct ancestors, not of the English, but 
of the Welsh. 

Roman Roads 

^ In one direction, however, the Romans bequeathed less to 
Wales than to England. Their roads, which traverse England 
in many directions, have left few traces in Wales. One of the 
best known is perhaps that which runs southward from Caerhun 
over the hills to western Merionethshire and thence to South 
Wales. Even this road, known to the country-folk for centuries 
by the name of Sarn Helen, is only capable of identification 
with complete certainty for a distance of ten or twelve miles. 
Again, from the Itinerary of Antoninus and from milestones 
which have been recovered we know that a road ran from 
Caermarthen along the south coast of Wales to the legionary 
fortress of Isca Silurum (Caerleon-upon-Usk), but, as Professor 
Haverfield says, " Not a yard of it can be laid down for certain 
on the map," He adds : " We can trace a road from Llanio 
by Llandovery to the Gaer near Brecon, and, as it seems, down 
the Usk valley to Caerleon. Here, too, a long void inter- 
62 




Pirate XX. Roman Milestone, found at Rhiwiau, I,i;anfair - 

FECHAN, CO. Carnarvon 62 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

venes in the middle between Brecon and Abergavenny, and 
the section from Abergavenny to Caerleon, though attested 
by the Itinerary, has not yet been discovered on the ground." 
The roads near Caersws and the road across the Glamorgan 
hills are in like case. We have reason to believe that they 
are there, but few traces of actual remains are known, and 
as to the other Roman roads in Wales we have no knowledge 
at all._1^ 

Roman Pottery and Remains 

^ Though Wales is thus defective in remains of Roman roads, 
it possesses perhaps its fair share of the treasures which have 
been dug out from the ruins of Roman cities and houses in 
England. Caerwent and Wroxeter are of course the two 
most important towns in Roman Wales. These places seem 
quite early to have become centres of civil rather than military 
activity.^' To enter upon an adequate account of these remains 
is both "impossible and undesirable in a general history of 
Wales. We cannot stay to consider the town-hall, the baths, 
the blacksmith's forge, the shops of Uriconium (or, to use its 
earlier name, Viroconium), nor may we deal with the modern 
excavations at Caerwent. It may, however, be permissible 
to add a few notes on Roman pottery. 

The most important kind of Roman pottery, and the only 
kind which we shall consider, is that known as Samian ware. 
Within recent years, thanks mainly to the researches of Hans 
Dragendorff, Konstantin Koenen, and J. Dechelette, some 
strides have been made toward the dating of the various 
specimens of Samian which have been discovered in various 
parts of the Roman Empire. Styles and types have been 
classified, and the numbers assigned to the various types by 
Dr. Dragendorff have passed into current use. 

The types most commonly found in Wales are numbers 
29 and 37. Occasionally 30 is also found. ^ Form 29, which 
is somewhat fragile, being moulded or turned very thinly, is 

^ In the descriptions which follow we are dealing with vases in shape 
something Uke a modern flower-bowl or flower-pot. 

63 



HISTORY OF WALES 

distinguishable by a rim having a kind of engine-turned 
surface and a bend in the middle of its side which divides the 
decoration into two separate bands. The decorations are 
formal or consist of animal shapes. Representations of human 
figures occur, but are rare. Its period is about a.d. 30-85. 
It was therefore in use in Britain for a comparatively few 
years. Form 37 came into use about a.d. 65-70. It had the 
advantage of being much stronger than Form 29, but its glaze 
was inferior. It was probably cheap, and is found in great 
quantity. These qualities kept it in favour for a hundred 
and fifty years. It was hemispherical in shape, with a plain 
rim. Its style of decoration varied with the period, but as 
time went on the presence of human figures, sometimes isolated, 
sometimes in groups, became common. Form 30 is so rarely 
found in Wales that it is hardly necessary to consider it. It 
was in shape straight-sided and cylindrical. 

This ware was largely imported mainly from Gaul and 
Germany. The Welsh imported examples nearly all came 
from the I^ezouz potteries, in the Allier valley. Even the names 
of the potters have been preserved to us. Of the artists who 
worked at I^ezouz perhaps Divixtus, Butrio, and lyibertus were 
the best known. Many examples of pottery which have come 
down to us are, of course, of local manufacture. 

Famous Romans in Britain 

We cannot leave this chapter of Welsh history to turn to the 
rude cruelties that await us without some note or comment 
on the great names which pass before us as we study the 
slender materials which compose the history of Britain for this 
present period. As every one knows, Hadrian paid a lengthy 
visit to Britain, and, according to some authorities, built the 
Roman wall (the one between the Tyne and the Solway ; the 
more northerly wall, between the Firth of Forth and the Clyde, 
was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius) . The next great visitor 
whom we shall mention is Septimius Severus, who, though racked 
with gout, old and ill, pushed on for months through the forests 
of Caledonia. He took with him his sons Caracalla and Geta, 

64 




\ 






PivATE XXI. Examples of Samian Ware and Roman Cut Glass 



64 



THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 

that they might regain health of body and mind in the sterner 
and more rigorous exercises of a military campaign. Caracalla 
showed his appreciation of this banishment from his pleasures 
by attempting to murder his father, an attempt which, being 
discovered, induced Sevcrus to offer a sword to his son with 
the words, "If youdesire to slayme,here is the sword." Severus 
eventually died at York, a city which also saw the dissolution 
of that brave spirit Constantius Chlorus. In connexion with 
the campaign of Severus it is desirable to mention the name 
of Papinian, 'the prince of lawyers,' who accompanied his 
royal master to Britain. It will probably be known to many 
readers that the Valentinian I^aw of Citations, which named 
five great lawyers, Papinian, Ulpian, Gains, Paulus, and 
Modestinus, as those whose opinions were to be accepted as 
correct, provided that in case of dispute the voice of Papinian 
was to be supreme. This man, then, Rome's greatest lawyer, 
spent a considerable time in Britain — for the most part at 
York. It was from the death-bed of Constantius Chlorus 
that his favourite son, the child of the saintly Helena, the 
future emperor and founder of the Eastern capital, Con- 
stantine the Great, hurried from Britain to play his part in 
the great game of empire-grabbing. It was from Britain 
that the ' honest usurper ' Maximus led his legions against 
Gratian ; a campaign which resulted in the murder of Gratian, 
and finally, after five years of fighting and a few months of 
imperial power, in the death of Maximus himself. 

The end of the occupation began with the crisis caused by 
Alaric's attempted descent upon Rome (c. a.d. 400). Stilicho, 
the brave Vandal, guardian of Honorius, preserved the Empire 
for the time being, but Rome was weakened and its soldiers 
in the outlying provinces or vicarages were recalled. Britain 
thus lost the Twentieth I/Cgion. The other two, doubtless 
much reduced in strength, remained. They too, however, pass 
from the scene of this history when a certain Constantine, 
once a private soldier, now a candidate for the imperial purple, 
led them to Gaul. 

With the departure of the legions the most pleasant part of 

E 65 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the early history of Wales is complete. We now enter upon 
centuries of war. It is one long story of fighting which never 
seems to end. War with the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Picts, 
Scots, war with themselves, war with the Normans, it 
is a sorry story which justifies the piteous lamentations of 
Gildas. 



66 






PtATE XXII. Roman Jug of Pai,e Oi<ive-green Gi^ass 



66 



CHAPTER V 

THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

WK have now reached the year 407. We have 
remarked how, at that time, the inhabitants of 
this island were mainly Brythons, Romanized 
Brythons who had been for well-nigh four centuries in close 
contact with the civilizing influences of the Empire. Towns 
had been founded, industries encouraged, literature and 
learning advanced. The Christian religion had been intro- 
duced, together with other more Eastern philosophies. Britain 
had, in fact, become a part, and perhaps not the rudest part, 
of the polite Roman world. 

We have now to speak of a barbarian invasion which not 
only stopped but set back the hands of the clock of progress ; 
which drove the Brythons from the more fertile shires of 
England into the mountains of Cumberland and Wales, and 
into the peninsula of Cornwall ; which established in England 
itself new stock, part of a different race, introducing fresh 
customs and characteristics, submerging, if not extermi- 
nating, in many parts of the country the earlier British 
people, making it necessary to give a new name to the 
land they had conquered. Even as Pictish Albion became 
the Brythanic Islands with the coming of the Brython, so 
Britain became Angle-land with the conquests of the Anglo- 
Saxons. 

From the period when these conquests were complete we 
shall find the geographical extent of this history narrowed 
down to what is now Wales (with certain trifling differ- 
ences). Within those borders the Welsh nation has since 
been confined. 

67 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Commencement of the Saxon Invasion 

Even in tlie time of the Roman occupation a significant 
moving of the quarters of the Second IvCgion from Caerleon- 
upon-Usk to Rutupiae, or Richborough, near to the Isle of 
Thanet, in the fourth century showed that these northern 
pirates and sea-rovers were beginning their depredations. 
We read in the Notitia Imperii (pubhshed c. 400) of " the 
Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain," and it is known that 
fortifications were necessary even at that time at Brano- 
dunum (Brancaster, in Norfolk), Gariannonum (Caistor, near 
Yarmouth) , Othona (in Essex) , Regulbium (Reculver,inKent), 
Rutupiae, Dubrae (Dover), I^emannae (I^ymne), Anderida, 
and Portus Adurni. It is therefore probable that we must 
date the commencement of the Saxon invasion from the 
beginning of the fifth century, though of course the new- 
comers obtained no sure footing in the island until much 
later. Prosper Tiro, the contemporary of St. Augustine, tells 
us that in the fifteenth year of Arcadius and Honorius (a.d. 409) 
" the strength of the Romans was utterly wasted by sickness, 
and the provinces of Britain were laid waste by the incursion 
of the Saxons." Speaking of the year 441, he uses words 
which suggest that the Saxons were beginning to establish 
themselves permanently in England. This date is eight years 
earlier than that mentioned by Bede. 

Maximus, or Maxen Wledig 

There was another and an earlier event which must be 
borne in mind when considering the overthrow of the Brythons. 
Toward the end of the fourth century a Roman court official 
of humble origin named Maximus was quartered in Britain. 
This man, a Spaniard by birth, was destined to win for a 
short time an empire, to deplete a country of its youth, and 
to become the hero of a Welsh romance. Taking advantage 
while in Britain of the discontent which the misrule of Gratian 
had brought about, this adventurer caused himself to be 
elected emperor, placed himself at the head of an army which 
68 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

comprised a large part of the bravest and most adventurous 
youth of Britain, crossed over to the Continent, met, defeated, 
and slew Gratian, obtained control of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, 
which he ruled justly, and at last fell, after having worn the 
imperial purple for a few months. This was the Maxen of 
Welsh romance. That he left a deep impression on the minds 
of men in Britain is unquestionable. He was looked upon 
by them as a leader worthy to be followed, as a great fighter 
and a national hero. For our present purpose, however, we 
m_ust insist only upon the salient fact that he led from Britain 
almost all the best fighting men. This cannot but have had 
a serious effect upon the fortunes of the country when it had 
to grapple with barbarian invaders. It is, indeed, significant 
that it was shortly after this adventurous career of Maximus 
that the Saxons begin to appear with ever-increasing frequency. 
Britain, now weakened by the loss of its youth on many a 
Gaulish battlefield, was soon to lose the remnants of the 
legionaries. Thus denuded of its fighting men, it is not surpris- 
ing that the Saxons commenced to come ever more frequently 
to the attack. 

VORTIGERN 

It was not, however, until toward the middle of the fifth 
century that the invaders actually obtained a permanent 
footing in this island, and then, according to the old historians, 
it was rather the folly of a British king than defeat in war 
that was responsible for the intrusion. The position of the 
island defenders was, however, extremely difficult, and it is 
doubtful whether Vortigern, who is generally held responsible 
for the commencement of the Saxon settlement, could avoid 
taking the fatal step for which in the following centuries he 
was so bitterly blamed. ^ 

^ Roger of Wendover tells the story as follows. Speaking of Hengist and 
Horsa, who had, according to Roger, come to help Vortigern against the 
Picts and Scots, he says : " When at last they stood before the Idng, he 
asked them respecting the faith and religion of their ancestors, on which 
Hengist repHed, ' We worship the gods of our fathers — Satvirn, Jupiter, and 
the other deities who govern the world, and especially Mercury, whom in 
our tongue we call Woden, and to whom our fathers dedicated the fourth 

69 



HISTORY OF WALES 

The position of affairs at this time may perhaps be stated 
as follows. The northern wall which under Roman rule had 
kept the Picts or Caledonians of Scotland at bay for centuries 
was now practically undefended or insufficiently defended. 
The result was that the barbarians of the north succeeded in 
accompUshing what they had for years been attempting to 
do — ^break the southern bonds which kept them from the 
fertile land of north central Britain. Vortigern, who was then, 
perhaps, one of the strongest of the British leaders, found it 
impossible to withstand the northern barbarians for the 
reasons which we have shortly stated above, and consequently 
called in the aid of the Saxons, promising a grant of land 
in southern Britain as payment for the alliance. The Saxons 
came, the barbarians were, perhaps, checked, but one enemy 
had been exchanged for another, and the second state of 
Britain was worse than the first ! 

Who this Vortigern was, if, indeed, he is not entirely 
legendary, we do not know with any accuracy. If we identify 
him with King Gwrtheyrn and follow Sir John Rhys we must 
regard him as the Goidelic king of the Brythons of that part 
of Britain called in later times Powys. It will perhaps be 
remembered that in the third century a Goidelic tribe called 
the Desi had come from Ireland to South Wales and had 
estabhshed itself in that country. Sir John would give to 
the words ' Gwrtheyrn Gwrtheneu,' in the Brut, which Williams 
ab Ithel translated as ' Vortigern of Repulsive Lips,' the 
meaning that Vortigern spoke a language which was unknown 
to his subjects — that, in fact, he was a Goidel ruHng Brythons. 
From this, in conjunction with other facts, he suggests that 
Vortigern the Goidel was either the founder or an important 
member of the Goidelic dynasty of Powys, and possibly an 

day of the week, which to this day is called " Wodensday." Next to him 
we worship the most powerful goddess Frea, to whom they dedicated the 
sixth day, which, after her, we call " Friday." ' ' I grieve much,' said Vorti- 
gern, ' for your beUef or rather for your imbeHef ; but I am exceedingly 
rejoiced at your coming, which, whether brought about by God or otherwise, is 
most opportune for my urgent necessities.' " We have lost the naivete of 
those old chroniclers ! 

70 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

ancestor of that Eliseg whose name is preserved to us on a 
pillar still standing in the neighbourhood of Valle Crucis Abbey, 
near Llangollen. However this may be, we may perhaps 
regard Vortigern as a British king of importance. He is 
mentioned by name by Bede and is referred to by Gildas, and, 
as we have seen, is spoken of in the Brut as well as in the later 
chronicles. According to Bede and the Chronicle, the date 
when the Saxons were called in to his aid was 449, and their 
reward consisted in the gift of lands in Kent. Thus the new- 
comers obtained a footing, and having done so they seem to 
have lost little time in acquainting their kinsfolk oversea 
of the wealth of the new country and the ' nothingness ' of its 
inhabitants. 

Invaders from Ireland 

It is probable that it was not merely against the Picts and 
the Angles and Saxons that the Britons had to contend. 
Apart from the early migration of the Desi tribe, it is fairly 
certain that throughout the fourth century the Scots from 
Ireland had been making frequent depredations on the western 
shore of Britain. If Gildas is to be beUeved, they came over 
the Irish Sea in small boats called coracles, each holding but 
a few men. But though the men in each boat were few the 
boats themselves were many. That they caused great loss to 
the western part of the island is probable, that they settled in 
ever-increasing numbers is possible. It was the age when the 
Goidels avenged the losses which the Britons had inflicted upon 
them in the earlier times of which we have already spoken. 

Causes of Britain's Weakness 

Bearing in mind that the Britons were thus faced on the 
one hand with heavy losses due to the withdrawal of their 
best blood to fight the battles of Maximus — and that this best 
was very good is shown by the fact that Maximus won for 
himself, for a few short months at any rate, the rulership of 
the Western world — and to the decline of Roman power, with 
the consequent withdrawal of the legions, and on the other 

71 



HISTORY OF WALES 

hand with three barbarous and warHke nations, each desiring 
to filch away part of the wealth which Roman rule had created, 
we believe that the reader will find that the defenders of 
Britain were neither the nithing men that the Angles thought 
them to be nor the degenerate cowards that the Briton Gildas 
would have us regard them as being. 

The Saxon Attack 

With regard to the struggle which followed we propose to 
say but little, the reason being that the Anglo-Saxon conquest 
belongs rather to the history of England than to that of Wales. 
It is evident, however, that the Welsh were much more con- 
cerned with the northern invasions than with those of the 
south. Whether the southern Britons ever retreated to 
Wales in sufficient numbers to carry with them a memory of 
their former history is extremely doubtful. It would seem 
that they were, to a large extent, overwhelmed by their 
conquerors. In the north, however, the story is different. 
Right up to the time of the battle of Winwaed the chieftains 
of Wales and of Strathclyde were, intermittently at any rate, 
working together to defeat and overcome the invader. 

As to the Anglo-Saxon conquests in the south, these we 
propose to pass over very quickly. Right from the beginning 
battles were very frequent. In 455 Hengist and Horsa, the 
leaders of the new-comers, fought against Vortigem ; the year 
following Hengist and Aesc (the successor of Horsa, who was 
slain in the earlier battle) slew 4000 Britons ; in 465 they are 
again found fighting with the Britons (Welshmen ^) and 
inflicting heavy loss, for we read that many Welsh nobles fell 
in this engagement. By 473 the conquest of Kent was well- 
nigh complete, but it had not been gained without nearly 
twenty years of fiercely contested battles. The conquest of 
Sussex now began. In 477 and 485 two more battles were 
fought against the Welsh, with much loss of life, and in 491 
occurred the massacre of Anderida — the Roman camp already 

^ The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle always uses the term ' Welshman ' (or 
Wealas) — i.e. foreigners or enemies — when referring to the Britons. 
72 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

referred to — where all the inliabitatits were put to the sword. 
By 495, when another important engagement took place, the 
invaders had pushed still farther along the southern shore, 
and had reached, apparently, almost as far as Southampton. 
Wessex was now the object of their attack. Battles were 
constantly being fought, and by 530 the Isle of Wight was 
in the hands of the Saxons. After forty years of continuous 
warfare (apart from the fighting in the south-east) the new- 
comers could claim Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as 
conquered territory. 

Right through the sixth century the struggle continues, the 
earlier inhabitants being driven ever farther west or slain or 
reduced to slavery. Towns were swept away, and the cities 
which had been raised in Roman times overthrown, sacked, 
pillaged, and destroyed. A stubborn and continued resistance 
was undoubtedly made by the Britons. For at least a hundred 
and fifty years the struggle went on. Nor were the battles 
few and far between ; on the contrary, it seems to have been 
one long-continued battle. It was a war of dispossession, a 
war between a warlike and a numerous people and a brave but 
peaceful nation fighting for its life and its nationality. 

Results of the Saxon Invasion 

The modern mind has some difficulty in imagining what 
those dreadful years must have been like to the Britons. They 
had lived in almost perfect peace (in the south) for centuries 
before the departure of the Romans. Even if we had to rely 
solely upon the evidence of Gildas, we should know that they 
were accustomed to five in cities with soHd walls, well-planned 
citadels, with well-built houses. They were accustomed to 
all the commercial methods of Rome. Their goods were 
housed in warehouses and shops. Churches were built. 
Justice was administered in imposing basilicas and town-halls. 
Orchards were planted and gardens flourished.^ The state of 
Roman Britain was both peaceful and pleasant. It was upon 

1 Compare Giraldus Cambrensis' account of Caerwent in the thirteenth 
century, given as a footnote to p. 59. 

73 



HISTORY OF WALES 

this fair and wealthy country that the storm of barbarian 
invasion broke. For a hundred and fifty years the men of 
Britain defended their homes and attempted to beat back the 
tide of conquest. Saxon, Angle, Jute, Pict, and Scot in turn, 
or all at once, swept down upon them. The cities were 
destroyed, the gardens laid waste, the accumulated wealth of 
Roman times seized. The defenders who had at first fought 
to preserve their property now fought to preserve their lives. 
Even this they barely succeeded in doing. Rome was appealed 
to, but Rome could not hear. Generation succeeded genera- 
tion and still the hideous devastation continued. Toward 
the end Britons must have been fighting against Saxons who 
hardly knew the meaning and the purpose of the buildings, 
of the pottery, of the wall-surrounded orchards, now fruitless 
and overgrown with weeds, which in the times of their great- 
grandfathers had been possessed by men of their own rank 
and of their own nation. Roman culture had been neutralized 
by Saxon barbarity.^ 

At the end of the struggle, when the Britons had been beaten 
back to the fastnesses of Wales, they carried with them, as we 
shall see, but a faint memory of the arts, crafts, and learn- 
ing of Roman times. They were once more a pastoral 
people, living in houses rudely constructed, made to be readily 
movable, planned so that the inhabitants could readily leave 
them without great loss. Gardens and orchards were almost 
unknown, corn was relied upon less than milk and meat. 
The people themselves were hardy, used to the rigours of an 
open-air life, asking but little of life save liberty.^ All this 
must be borne in mind if the subsequent history of Wales is 
to be understood. As we shall see, in the years to come it was 
just this simpUcity of life, this hardihood, this mobility, which 
made the conquest of Wales by the Normans almost impossible. 

Nothing strikes the student of the early history of Britain 

^ It was a similar blight, falling upon southern Europe, which broke down 
Roman and Byzantine cxxlture, heralded the Dark Ages, and plunged Europe 
into ignorance for at least six hundred years. 

* Giraldus, writing in the thirteenth century, describes the Welshman of 
his day in very similar terms. The Renaissance had not yet arrived. 

74 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

so forcibly as the difference between the Anglo-Saxon invasion 
and the Norman Conquest. Hengist, Aelle, Cissa, Cerdic, 
Cynric, Ceawlin, Cutha, Ceolwulf, and the rest rise up to lead 
the Saxon invaders. Ten years pass, a century passes, and a 
few acres are won, a county is lost, a province is wrested from 
the Britons. On the other hand, William landed in 1066, 
fought one important battle, and was crowned king, and 
although some attempts at revolt and resistance were made 
subsequently, they were but half-hearted, and William, after 
but a short reign, was enabled to transfer a well-established 
crown to his son. The reason probably is that the inva- 
sion was indeed an invasion, the conquest but a conquest. 
The Saxons came as a people to dispossess and destroy a 
people ; William came leading his Normans to gain a throne 
and govern a people. There was no question of a general 
dispossession. 

The Hallelujah Victory 

Though it would be undesirable in a short history of Wales 
to give an account in detail of the Saxon invasion, we have 
thought it useful to point out its general effect. It is also 
necessary to advert to a few battles which more nearly touch 
our subject. 

The first great victory which the Britons won over the 
Picts and Saxons, or Scots, took place almost at the commence- 
ment of the struggle, in about 429. Germanus, who had been 
sent by Pope Celestine to attempt to purge the Britons of the 
Pelagian heresy, had, after working several miracles, at last 
succeeded in winning the confidence of the nation he had been 
sent to teach or improve. It was he who was the hero of this 
encounter, known to history as the Hallelujah Battle, and the 
victory was due less to the bravery of the Britons — which, 
indeed, was not tested — ^than to his strategy. Assembling 
his none too numerous host in a valley surrounded by moun- 
tains,^ he caused them on a given signal to shout with one 

1 The site of this battle was probably near Mold, in Flintshire, probably at 
Rhual, in the place now occupied by the park of Lieut. -Colonel B. 'E;. Phihps. 

75 



HISTORY OF WALES 

voice the word ' Hallelujali ! ' This shout, echoing from the 
surrounding hills, was magnified into such a roar of triumph 
that the opposing army, feeling themselves overwhelmed by 
numbers, fled, leaving their arms behind them in their fear. 
The victory was at once complete and bloodless. 

According to the two historians Gildas and Nennius, who 
were both Britons,^ early in the sixth century an important 
victory was won by their countrymen at the battle of Mount 
Badon. The stories are conflicting and confused, but it would 
seem that the battle did actually occur, and not improbably 
it accounts for the comparative peacefulness of Cynric's reign. 
It is not known who was the leader of the British. Gildas 
talks of Ambrosius Aurelianus, the last Roman descended from 
the imperial house left in Britain ; Nennius gives us as leader 
that quasi-historical hero Arthur. The Annates Camhriae also 
assigns the victory to Arthur, and gives the date of the battle 
as 516. It is not known where the battle was fought. Some 
think it was on the Welsh border, possibly in South Wales ; 
some believe it took place in Scotland. It does not appear 
to have been noticed by historians generally that there were 
two battles fought on Mount Badon, according to the Annates 
Camhriae, the second one being assigned to the year 665, on 
which occasion a certain Morcant was slain. 

These two victories would appear to be the only considerable 
ones won by the Britons of which we have any account — • 
unless we are to regard the battle of Fethan-lea, fought in 584 
by Ceawlin and Cutha against the Britons, as a Saxon reverse. 
The statement in the Angto-Saxon Chronicle is ambiguous. On 
the other hand, the invaders won two decisive battles which 
we must mention, since they resulted in the Britons of Wales 
being cut off from their countrymen of Cornwall on the one 
side and of Strathclyde on the other. The first of these 
victories was that of Deorham in 577, the other was the 
victory of Chester in c. 613. The events leading up to these 
battles and the battles themselves we will now consider shortly. 

* Nennius is an unknown quantity. Some think there never was such a 
person, and refer to his work of the Historia Brittonuni simply. 

76 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

Deorham 

In 571 an important victory had been won by the Saxons 
at Bedford, which resulted in the occupation of several towns 
in Oxfordshire and Bucks, and doubtless established a base 
from which the invading army could push on up the Severn to 
the Dee. By 577 the Saxons appear to have got as far as 
Gloucestershire, a progress so slow that it would seem to tell 
of some long-protracted siege or of continual petty warfare. 
However this may be, the Saxons appeared in that year at 
Deorham, a place some ten miles east of Bristol. Ceawlin, 
with Cuthwine his brother, led the Saxons ; Coinmail, Cpndidan,^ 
and Farnmail ^ headed the Brythons. The result was clearly 
an overwhelming victory for the Saxon arms. All the British 
leaders were slain. The cities of Gloucester, Cirencester, and 
Bath (Bathan-Ceaster) fell to the conquerors. As we have 
said, the Cymry of Cornwall and Somerset were cut off from 
their more northern kinsmen, and finally the way was open 
for the Saxons' advance up the valley of the Severn. It seems 
highly probable that this advance was one continuous massacre 
of a leaderless and beaten people by a savage invader. We 
read that many towns and vast quantities of booty were 
taken by Ceawlin, until at last, in 584, when he fought the 
battle of Fethan-lea (possibly somewhere in Cheshire), where 
his son was slain, he " departed in anger to his own land." It 
is to this campaign that we must trace the destruction of the 
Roman city of Viroconium.^ 

This important town, which now lies a ruin, mostly buried 
under fields which have been ploughed for centuries, can still 
be traced from some of the more important remains which 
appear above the surface of the soil. Parts of the site have 

^ Descended from Pascent, son of Vortigem or Gwrtlieyrn, according to 
Rhys in Y Cymmrodor (vol. xxi, p. 57). 

2 Sir John Rhys has suggested that the destruction of Viroconium (called 
in later times Uriconium) may have been the work of the Goidelic invaders 
of Wales who came from Ireland in the time of, or after, the rttigration of 
the D^si tribe. For the suggestion see his article entitled All Around the 
Wrekin, in Y Cymmrodor, vol. xxi. We prefer to regard it as the work of 
the Saxons. 

77 



HISTORY OF WALES 

been opened up by the spade of the excavator. Lying some 
eight miles from Shrewsbury and some seven miles from 
Wellington, it well repays a visit, being one of the most in- 
teresting and tragic ruins of the kind in this country. There 
still remains visible part of the wall of the basilica or judgment- 
hall, built in the Roman manner, and doubtless used by the 
Romans as the centre of administration and justice. Near 
by are the ruins of the baths, a luxury which the Romans at 
all times and in all places seem to have found necessary. This 
near juxtaposition of the baths to the court reminds one 
forcibly of the rule of Roman law whereby it was provided 
that slaves could be manumitted by the master mentioning 
the matter to the praetor (judge) even on the way to the baths. 
There one can see Roman pottery, the outline of Roman 
shops, including a smithy, and the general plan of a Roman 
street. Ploughmen are constantly turning up parts of buried 
skeletons in the vicinity. This, then, was the Roman town, 
and this is what Ceawlin left of it. Perhaps the bones of the 
family of lylywarch Hen, the great Cymric poet and the 
founder of a form of poetry, lie buried there even yet. That 
his children perished in the general massacre is certain. 

To return. J^^Q battle of Fethan-lea seems to have marked 
the boundary of the Saxon advance at that time. Ceawlin 
was beaten back and for a while there was peace. But soon 
the Angles well-nigh completed what the Saxons commenced — 
the isolation of Wales from the rest of the Cymry. Before 
passing on to the short description of the battle by which this 
was accomplished, we would remind the reader that in 594 
Augustine had set out on his great mission to endeavour to 
bring the barbarian Saxon within the Church. Centuries 
before this, of course, the Brythons had known Christianity, 
had even been tainted or acquainted with the Pelagian 
philosophy, or heresy as some say. They had strong beliefs, 
and Augustine does not seem to have approached the leaders 
of the ancient British Church in a particularly tactful manner. 
At this time the chief seat of learning in Britain was Bangor, 
in the county of Flint (now a little hamlet on the side of the 

78 



THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 

Dee). From the monastery there estabHshed (it contained 
over two thousand inmates) the learned ecclesiastics came to 
speak with Augustine. It is perhaps worth bearing in mind, 
especially by those who are tempted to regard the Cymry of 
those days as a wild and barbarous people, that the following 
disputation was concerned with the precise day on which 
Kaster should be held, an argument based mainly on astronomy 
— a science in which the Welsh seem to have been proficient. 
The result was an open quarrel between the new and the old 
sect — a quarrel which wrought Augustine to prophesy the 
ruin and overthrow of the Britons by their enemies the Angles 
and Saxons, whom St. Augustine was endeavouring to win 
over to his creed and religion. We echo and repeat the words 
of the late Dr. Hodgkin — echo because we cannot improve, 
repeat because we respect : "It was a golden opportunity 
that was offered for the reconciliation of two great hostile 
races at the feet of one Saviour, and that opportunity lost 
never returned. The wound which the Saxon invasions had 
caused, still comparatively fresh, might possibly have been 
then healed by first intention. Unhealed then, it went 
festering on for centuries ; and more than once or twice since 
the days of Augustine, Christianity, which ought to be the 
great reconciler of men,-;has proved itself the great divider 
between Celt and Saxon." / 

The Battle of Chester 

TAugustine's prophecy was only too fatally fulfilled. Some 
tiine about 613 Aethelfrith the Angle, king of Bernicia, led 
his army from York to Chester (or Caerlegion, as the Welsh 
chroniclers call it). The Britons had as vanguard a great 
number of monks from the monastery of Bangor, who had 
come to aid the Britons and their king Brochmail ^ with their 
prayers. Aethelfrith refused to regard them or their persons 
as sacred, and on learning that they rendered spiritual, or 
moral, if not active, support to his enemy, ordered his soldiers 

* See Y Cymmvodor, vol.xxi, p. 104 (table). There were many Brochmails. 
This king was probably of the house of Powys. 

79 



HISTORY OF WALES 

to attack them. Tlie result was that more than a thousand 
monks were slain. Their prayers seem to have been of little 
aid either to them or to their king, for Brochmail, appalled at 
this disaster, hardly contested the fight, but fled with his men, 
utterly broken and demoralized. As a result of this complete 
victory Chester fell. It was sacked by the victor and remained 
a waste for centuries. As a more far-reaching result Strath- 
clyde was cut off from the north of Wales ; the Cymry of 
Cumberland were severed, almost for ever, from their one-time 
compatriots of Gwynedd. By that victory, in conjunction 
with the earlier one at Deorham, the Britons were driven into 
the part of Britain which is now Wales. The border counties, 
however, were still disputed territory. It was reserved for 
Wulfhere, Off a, and the Norman barons to draw the line which 
to-day severs England from the more ancient kingdomT] 

With these few disjointed facts we must be content in our 
treatment of the Saxon invasion, regarded from the point of 
view of invasion rather than of conquest. In the chapter 
following we shall have something to say of the leaders of the 
Welsh in those troublous times, but our knowledge of what 
was happening in Wales, or even in Strathclyde, during all 
this period is very indefinite ; and as to the miseries which 
befell the Britons in England, that is a subject which is 
impertinent and out of place in a history of Wales, except 
in so far as it throws a light upon subsequent Welsh history. 



80 



^s 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

\0 far we have been looking at the history of Wales 
rather through the spectacles of the Romans and the 
Saxons. We have therefore on occasion used the 
foreigner's word — ' Welsh,' * Welshman ' meaning a stranger, 
an enemy. Now we will, with the reader's permission, treat 
of this nation as the Cymry — the nation of compatriots, of 
brothers. 

We have so far roughly pointed out how the aborigines were 
conquered by the Goidels ; the Goidels by the Brythons, who 
forced them partly into the fastnesses of North and South 
Wales, driving in a wedge between the Goidels of North Wales 
and South Wales — a wedge represented in more recent times 
with substantial accuracy by the kingdom of Powys. We 
have seen how the Roman came, conquered, and civilized ; 
how the Saxon and Angle invaded, massacred, and embruted. 
We have now restricted the geographical limits of our story 
to modern Wales and the border counties. Cornwall and the 
country of the West Welsh or the Southern Cymry is severed 
from the Cymry of Demetia. The Cymry of Strathclyde and 
Cumberland are divided by the rising power of Mercia from 
their kindred of Gwynedd^ 

We must now retrace our steps a little and see what has 
been happening through all the troublous times of the Anglo- 
Saxon invasion in Wales itself. 

Two names stand out with some distinctness even as early 
as the later years of the Roman occupation. These are 
Vortigern and Cunedda. The former was king or chief of 
the Britons of mid-Wales, the latter was at first a chief of 

F 8i 



HISTORY OF WALES 

North Britain who afterward came vSouth with his tribe to 
fight against and finally overcome the Scots or Goidels of 
northern Wales. Of both these leaders we must say some- 
thing. 

CUNEDDA WlEDIG 

Cunedda Wledig (King Cunedda) came down from the 
north, probably from guarding the great wall built by Hadrian 
between the Tyne and the Solway Firth, to fight against 
those Goidels who had not improbably come over from Ireland 
to aid their countrymen of North Wales to conquer the 
Brythons of Powys-land. It would seem ^ that the Brythons 
of Central Wales, finding themselves hard pressed by the 
Goidels with the Scottish allies, ^ sent to their Brythonic 
kinsmen of Strathclyde for aid. Cunedda replied by leading 
in person his followers, including his sons, twelve in number.^ 
This occurred late in the fourth or early in the fifth century — 
that is to say, after Maximus and shortly before the departure 
of the Roman legions and the coming of the Saxons. Cunedda 
came to aid ; he remained to conquer. Of the details of the 
struggle we have no knowledge. In the result, however, we 
find him established as king of Gwynedd, and to him we must 
trace the foundation of that royal or princely house which 
ruled over their territory from the royal town of Deganwy, or, 
in later times, from Aberffraw, in Mon. All Cunedda's sons 
appear to have settled in Gwynedd except the eldest, who 
died in Scotland, leaving a son, Merion, who succeeded to 
what would have been his father's share of the spoils of the 
newly conquered territory. This Merion then appears to 
have ruled over the cantref Merion, from whence is derived 
the present name of the county of Merioneth.* Merion, after 

^ There are several conflicting theories current as to the exact relationship 
existing between Goidel and Brython in Wales during this period. 

2 The Scots at this time, we need hardly remind our readers, were Goidels 
who came from Ireland (from whence the GaeUc stream came first to Wales, 
and later, or perhaps contemporaneously, to western Scotland and the 
Isles). 

° The Annales Cambriae gives nine, Nennius eight as the number. 

* These derivations should be regarded as doubtful. 

82 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

the death of his grandfather, Cunedda, seems to have been 
regarded as the head of his house, and we find him assigning 
to the other sons of Cunedda various tracts extending over 
Cardigan (Ceredigion, from Ceredig, another of the sons), 
Gwynedd, and Mon. Of course all this is extremely- 
doubtful, our authorities being legends and legendary genea- 
logies. But when one has no better historical guides it is 
necessary to accept their services, or for ever give up the 
attempt to find a path through the tangled history of early 
societies. 

VORTIGERN 

The next king of the Cymry of whom we know something 
more than the mere name is Vortigern. Of him we have 
already spoken in the preceding chapter. He is probably 
later than Cunedda by about half a century, and ruled over 
Central Wales, and possibly over Herefordshire as well. Unlike 
Cunedda, he was, according to Sir John Rhys, a Goidel, so 
that we have the interesting spectacle of a Goidelic king ruling 
over the Brythons of Powys-land while a British king is ruling 
over the Goidels of North Wales. Vortigern, as we have 
already stated, is regarded by the old historians as responsible 
for the invitation to the Angles to aid him in repulsing the 
Picts, and under date 449 we find the interesting entry in the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the effect that " Wyrtgeorn invites 
the Angles to Britain. They come over in three keels and 
land at Heopwines-fleet, and he gives them land in the south- 
east of the country on condition of their fighting the Picts. 
This they do successfully, but they send home for more of their 
countrymen, telling them of the worthlessness of the Britons 
and the goodness of the land." ^ The result of that unhappy 
invitation we have already referred to. We merely add here 
that it would seem that Vortigern was a leader of much power 
in Britain, and if he were really a Goidel merely ruling over a 
division of Wales it is difficult to see why he should be acting 

^ We quote from the late Thomas Hodgkin's volume in The Political 
History of England, p. 88. 

83 



HISTORY OF WALES 

in this important matter alone when the step thus taken was 
one which obviously affected the whole of Britain. 

After the death of Vortigern our knowledge of the Welsh 
leaders practically ceases for more than fifty years. Such 
names as Pascent and BHseg, it is true, flit before us, but they 
are mere names preserved to us only in genealogies or in 
legends engraved upon the sculptured stone. It is not, 
indeed, until the year 500 that we come across the next ruler 
of whom we know anything of living interest. 

Dyfnwal Moelmud 

The king of whom we now speak was Dyfnwal Moelmud, 
who is supposed to have lived at the commencement of the 
sixth century. He was apparently a leader of the Strathclyde 
Britons and a grandson of Coel Odebog. He became in later 
times and in bardic legend the first and greatest British 
legislator, and is mentioned as the author of the Triads ^ in the 
Triads themselves. These compilations, which we shall con- 
sider later, were, however, forgeries of a much later date, and 
consequently we can attach but little importance to what they 
say of their supposed author. We can assign about the same 
amount of weight to the statement of Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
who makes him the son of Cloten, king of Cornwall. The 
Venedotian Code, however, may perhaps be relied upon when 
it refers to him as a great measurer and settler of boundaries. 
We may therefore regard Dyfnwal as a person who did really 
live, and one who was famous as a lawgiver rather than as a 
soldier, but beyond that we can hardly go. 

Maelgwn Gwynedd 

Following upon Dyfnwal in point of time, though probably 
ruling over a country widely separated from Dyfnwal's 
territory, was that Maelgwn Gwynedd of whom we find such 
a terrible picture painted in the pages of Gildas. He, with 
Vortigern, was made to share responsibility for the loss of 
Britain to the barbarians, and, like Vortigern, his main sin 

^ The Triads referred to are those printed in The Ancient Laws of Wales, 
vol. ii. 

84 













PI.ATE XXIII. EWSEG'S PlI<I<AR 

Photo Lettsome &> Sons, Llangollen 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

probably consisted in the fact that he was a powerful man 
who attempted to resist without success. 

Maelgwn Hir (the Tall), ruler of Gwynedd, the great-great- 
grandson of Cunedda, was certainly an outstanding figure in 
his time. Beginning his rise to power by the slaughter of his 
uncle and his uncle's troops, he seems to have shrunk before 
no crime which he felt was necessary to attain his ambition. 
If we would believe his detractors, we must hold him guilty 
of the murder of his wife and nephew, and as being the intro- 
ducer of an unusual and unpleasant vice. That Gildas, whose 
contemporary he was, had some good cause to hate his name 
seems clear, but when we find him referring to Maelgwn's 
bards as " rascally, lying quacks who serve him [by] spitting 
out their bacchanalian ravings " we confess to a feeling that 
Gildas was prejudiced.^ Good or bad, it is certain that the 
royal house of which he was a representative lasted until 1282, 
when Prince I^lywelyn, last of the line to rule in Gwynedd, ^ 
was slain in the wars against Edward Plantagenet. It is also 
certain that he extended considerably the boundaries of 
Gwynedd and became a powerful king, as kings were accounted 
in those days, and, what is more to his credit, did not permit 
war to prevent him from encouraging the arts of peace, for 
he was the friend and patron of bards and poetry. 

There is an interesting legend connected with this Maelgwn 
which reminds one of the happenings connected with the later 
story of Cnut. It appears that, despite the evil things which 
Gildas has to say of him, Maelgwn was, as we have suggested, 
a vigorous, if unscrupulous, tribal chief. At first his energies 
were devoted to bringing the other tribes which lay to the 
south of his territory under his rule. After some struggles, 
the exact nature of which is unknown to us, tradition informs 
us that the various chiefs assembled at Aberdovey. There 
they were to decide who should be king of Britain. The lot, 
it was determined, should fall upon the one who could defy 

^ The conflict between bard and monk was continuous in Wales throughout 
the mediaeval period. 

^ David, of course, was not put to death by :^dward until October 1283, 
but he can hardly be regarded as having reigned. 

85 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the tide longest. In passing we may remark that owing to 
the extremely gradual slope of the sands at Aberdovey the 
tide rises there very slowly indeed. Maelgwn was fortunate 
in having as an ally one Maeldav, an enchanter, who fashioned 
for him a chair which could ride on the water. Upon this 
Maelgwn sat. The result, of course, is obvious. While his 
opponents were forced by the rising tide to retire, Maelgwn 
rode proudly on his magic chair. He was chosen king, and 
apparently united the western parts of Britain, bringing them 
all under his sway. The exact extent of his kingdom we 
cannot even guess at, although it not improbably included 
Cumbria. We do not know whether he ever led his troops 
against the Saxons, though of a certainty it was the eastern 
part of what was once his kingdom that was ravaged after 
the disastrous defeat at Deorham in 577. Maelgwn himself 
did not die on the battlefield ; he fell a victim to the yellow 
plague in 547. This Maelgwn was, as we have said, one of 
the reputed kings of Britain, whose title of Wledig was 
probably based on some sort of claim to be the successor of 
the Roman Dux Britanniarum. 

Weakness of the Welsh Tribal System 

With regard to these ancient kings it is necessary to observe 
that it is improbable that the territories over which they ruled 
were wide. Britain had from very early times been ruled by 
many kings. No permanent attempt at centralization of 
government seems ever to have been made by the Brythons 
at any period of their occupation of England or Wales. 
Occasionally a leader of greater power or wider view rises up 
and links together the scattered tribes into something of a 
kingdom, but for the most part these kings were, it would 
seem, mere tribal leaders. The reason for this we can only 
guess at in the present state of our knowledge of these early 
centuries. It is now fairly well established, thanks largely 
to the researches of Seebohm,^ that the Cymry had a highly 
developed system of tribal holding of land, a land system based, 

^ And also, perhaps we should add, to the late Hubert Lewis. 

86 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

as regards the Cymry, though possibly not extending to the 
strangers within their borders, almost entirely on kinship, 
on membership of a tribe or family — a land system under 
which the family estates remained in the tribe for generations, 
the descendants of a particular stock taking the place of their 
particular ancestors, until after so many generations a final 
division seems to have taken place, each of the persons to 
whom the various parts were given apparently establishing 
a new tribe, separate, as regards land-holding, from the rest. 
This matter we shall have to consider at greater length in a 
subsequent chapter. We mention it here in order to point 
out that such a system, which existed in Ireland in a similar 
form and with a similar effect, cuts right across any possible 
system of centralization. Nothing shows the statesmanship 
of William I more clearly than the gemot of Salisbury, where 
he required all the tenants-in-chief of land in England to 
swear fealty to him as the one supreme overlord of all for 
their land. William had learnt his lesson in France. He had 
seen how the turbulent barons of the Continent (he himself 
was one of the most conspicuous examples) could defy their 
nominal chief, could wage war in his realm and, if need be, 
against him, and that with success. He determined that this 
evil system should never be planted in England by him. He 
found, however, that the seed was already there, yes, and 
truly that the custom of centuries had developed it into a 
strong and noxious plant. The gemot of Salisbury plucked 
it out for ever as regards England. Henceforth in England 
there was one king, one overlord, one person and one person 
only to whom all tenants of land (in those days particularly 
the birthplace of all political power) owed allegiance. With 
Britain, and in later times with Cymru, it was otherwise. 
Men had overlords, but they were petty tribal chiefs. These 
petty chiefs, it may be, were bound by weak ties, we believe 
very weak ties, to a higher or more important chief, but there 
would appear to have been no general system whereby these 
chiefs held their land from one general overlord, or indeed 
from any overlord. They would seem to have claimed their 

87 



HISTORY OF WALES 

holding, ultimately, as being descended from a landowning 
tribe, not as being the grantees of an overlord who had given 
them land in return for services, and for so long, and for so 
long only, as those services were rendered. In saying this 
we must not be understood to be supporting the now exploded 
theory that feudalism came in with the Conqueror. It was 
fairly developed in England doubtless some time before the 
Conquest. We are now speaking, not of Saxon England, but 
of Britain and of Cymru. 

This point should be grasped most carefully. We hold the 
view that no man can understand the most ordinary events 
of history without some knowledge of the everyday life, the 
circumstances of existence of the everyday man (the ' man in 
the street,' so to say), who when all is said and done is the 
person who forms the machine which the master minds control 
and move. It is useless to blame the Cymric chiefs for failing 
to join their forces under one chief who could lead them to 
battle against their numerous enemies with some hope of 
success when the root reason for this failure to coalesce is to 
be found, not in the absence of statecraft on the part of the 
leaders, but in the circumstances of the life of their followers, 
which of necessity split up interests into a thousand parts 
and made each little family tribe foreign in interest to the 
tribes which bordered on its own small holding. Exactly 
the same sort of evil division of national might into a myriad 
of small conflicting groups is to be seen in England in the 
Middle Ages in the world of commerce. Each little town 
bound by the ties of guild and borough community was as 
foreign to the neighbouring towns as Danzig is to Bath. 
Community of interest was lacking ; town fought against 
town ; charters were framed to beat down commercial dealing 
with the next town though it were but a league distant. The 
result was disastrous. For proof, look round the cities of 
England which are to-day thriving and prosperous. They are 
in numberless cases free towns which grew up in later times 
unencumbered by this vicious system of petty rivalry. It 
was, we believe, the same in Britain. All through this history, 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

with a few important and honourable exceptions, we shall 
find no general attempt to gather all the available forces under 
one strong leader. Even when one would have thought all 
parties and all tribes should have joined to meet a common 
enemy we shall find either no combination or a weak one 
based on treaty interest, which, like all such, breaks down 
at the critical stage by a crafty opponent weaning away 
with bright promises one or more of the more easily bribed 
confederates. 

Arthur 
/One of the kings of Britain who made some sort of successful 
attempt to consolidate the native forces against the Continental 
invaders was Arthur, if legend speaks truly. Even he, however, 
never ruled over all Britain, though his realm, which was in 
the west, seems to have been of considerable extent. Whether 
this same Arthur is a legendary character or was a real king is 
not by any means free from doubt. Caxton seems to have 
had some doubts on the matter, for in his preface to Malory's 
Morte d' Arthur we find him writing: "Divers men hold 
opinion that there was no such Arthur, and that all such 
books as been made of him be feigned and fables, because that 
some chronicles make of him no mention, nor remember him 
nothing, nor of his knights. Whereto they answered, and one 
in special said, that in him that should say or think that there 
never was such a king called Arthur might well be aretted 
great folly and blindness. For he said that there were many 
evidences of the contrary. First ye may see his sepulchre in 
the monastery of Glastonbury. And also in PoUcronicon, in 
the fiith book the sixth chapter, and in the seventh book the 
twenty-third chapter, where his body was buried, and after 
found, and translated into the said monastery. Ye shall see 
also in the history of Bochas, in his book De Casu Principum, 
part of his noble acts, and also of his fall. Also Galfridus in 
his British book recounteth his life : and in divers places of 
England many remembrances be yet of him, and shall remain 
perpetually, and also of his knights. First in the Abbey of 

89 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Westminster at St. Edward's shrine, remaineth the print of 
his seal in red wax closed in beryl, in which is written, Patricius 
Arihurus Britannie, Gallic, Germanie, Dade, Imperator. Item 
in the Castle of Dover ye may see Gawaine's skull and Cradok's 
mantle : at Winchester the Round Table : in other places 
Ivauncelot's sword and many other things. . . . And yet of 
record remain in witness of him in Wales, in the town of 
Camelot, the great stones and the marvellous works of iron 
lying under the ground, and royal vaults, which divers now 
living have seen. Wherefore it is a marvel why he is no more 
renowned in his own country, save only it accordeth to the 
Word of God, which saith that no man is accepted for a 
prophet in his own country .^3. 

{It would certainly be marvellous if a king who had extended 
his sway over Gaul and Germany as well as England and Wales, 
and that in the sixth century, should have been regarded as 
of so little importance by his countryman and contemporary 
Gildas that he failed even to mention his name. It is clearly 
no answer to say that Gildas was a native of Strathclyde, and 
not of Wales or Cornwall. The deeds ascribed to Arthur by 
Wace, Walter Map, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Thomas 
Malory, had they been true even to the tenth part, would 
have carried the name of Arthur far beyond the bounds of 
Strathclyde, would have been seized upon by a far less discern- 
ing writer than Gildas, and would have formed a bright interlude 
in his " tearful discourse concerning the ruin of Britain," as 
Bede described his history.^ Indeed, it were waste of space 
even to suggest that the Arthur of the Arthurian legends ever 
lived. It does not follow, however, that there was no such 
king, nor can we say that he did not accomplish some con- 
siderable deeds of valour and statecraft. Nennius, writing at 
the end of the eighth century, mentions him and ascribes 
twelve victories over the Saxons to his hero. The phrases in 

^ Giraldus tells us, in explanation of the fact that Gildas does not mention 
his contemporary Arthur, that he, Gildas, angry at the death of his brother, 
prince of Albania (whom Arthur slew), threw into the sea " many excellent 
books, in which he had described the actions of Arthur." There is, of course, 
no ground whatever for this statement. 

90 




. ---a^r.-^-A .^. '^ t'..?-;. (i.,v.^..^^s. «;.♦.,,•• 



PI.ATE XXIV. The Round Table at Winchester Hai,i, 

Photo G. W. Wilson &- Co. 90 



THE BIRTH OF T FI E CYMRY 

wliich he relates these victories do not ring true. We suspect 
that there was but little true history underlying them. In 
one of them (also found in the Annates Camhriae) Arthur goes 
into battle bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on his 
shoulders ; the pagans thereupon flee, and suffer a great 
slaughter. One's thoughts instinctively turn to the battle of 
Chester, fought against these same pagans, where the Britons 
went into battle led by more than a thousand holy men, who 
had fasted so that their prayers might win victory for their 
side, and one remembers that the result of that act of piety 
was the massacre of the monks and the complete victory of 
the pagans. No one who bears in mind Cromwell's battle 
of Dunbar would deny to piety a victory-winning force, but 
Nennius carries little conviction to us when he tells us of the 
pagans fleeing at the mere sight of an image — of the significance 
of which they could not have had the remotest knowledge. 
Then, again, in the account of the battle of Mount Badon we 
find that Arthur himself and unaided is accredited with the 
slaughter of nine hundred and sixty men ! Romance ! The 
Annates Camhriae, a still later compilation, contains as one of 
its first entries, under date 516, an account of this Mount 
Badon battle, in which Arthur is described as the victorious 
leader of the Britons, and we have a poem celebrating the 
victory. We also find him mentioned, in conjunction with one 
Medrant, in the same chronicle under date 537. It is signifi- 
cant that he is not referred to in the Brut y Tywysogion {The 
Chronide of the Princes) . Giraldus Cambrensis, a much later 
writer, has, however, something to say of hirnr How it was 
that the name of Arthur lived on in the song of poet, Welsh, 
English, and French, and in the later historio-romances of such 
men as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Giraldus we shall see when 
we come to consider the Arthurian legends. 

In this state of our knowledge we will merely express the 
hope that Arthur was a leader of the Britons on the borders of 
Wales, having his seat at Caerleon-upon-Usk ; improving the 
morals of his knights (there is ample historical evidence to 
show that these same Britons had learnt much evil as well as 

91 



HISTORY OF WALES 

good from tlie Romans) ; endeavouring to unite his followers 
by giving to each equally with himself a seeming equality ; 
and finally leading this noble and united band against the 
barbarian Cynric. One thing at least is sure. Cynric's reign 
is marked by a comparative absence of battles against the 
Britons. Somebody or something must have checked the 
invader about the time that Arthur is supposed to have lived. 

VOTEPORI 

The name of another South Wales prince or leader also 
flits before us. This was that king whose name appears as 
Voteporigis in the lyatin and Votecorigis in the Goidelic tongue. 
Of him we know but little save his name. Gildas refers to 
him and makes him tyrant of Dyfed. He appears under the 
name Guotepir as the ancestor, or perhaps we should say the 
precursor,^ of Arthur. If we believe Gildas we must regard 
him as one of the men who were responsible for the loss 
of Britain. He is painted as the vile son of a good father, 
whose name was Aricol or Agricola. That he actually lived is 
certain, for a monument " In memory of the protector Vote- 
pori " was discovered in 1895 in about the centre of what 
must have been his kingdom of Dyfed. Whether we are 
to hold him guilty of the sins which Gildas would have us 
associate with his name is very doubtful. The use of the word 
' protector ' would seem to show that his subjects regarded 
him as not unworthy of a title which in past years was held 
by the Roman generals who held the country against the 
barbarians. Writers have suggested that this title of pro- 
tector in the case of Votepori meant simply that he was an 
honorary member of the emperor's bodyguard. Perhaps 
Mr. Nicholson is more correct when he gives it its more natural 
meaning, viz. that Votepori was regarded as the protector of 
his people. Whether he protected them against the Goidels 

^ See Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson's article in Y Cymmrodor, vol. xxi, where he 
brings forward some convincing arguments to show that the so-called Harleian 
Genealogies are not, in some cases at any rate, genealogies, but merely tables 
of succession. The line in the table we quote from at present rvms Guotepir — 
Cuicar — Petr — Arthur, etc. 

92 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

of South Wales or of Ireland, or the Scots, or the Saxons, or 
sea-rovers, it is impossible to say. 

To sum up, we may perhaps regard Votepori as a king of 
Dyfed somewhat earlier in date than Arthur, who made a 
mark upon his time as a leader of his people. We may, 
perhaps, acquit him of the sins of which Gildas accuses him, 
even as we look lightly upon the reputed crimes of that other 
king Cinglas of the genealogies (that Cuneglasus for whom 
Gildas has so many hard words) , who was of the age of Maelgwn, 
and who probably did nothing more wicked than object to 
his brothers' generous gifts to the Church, and, maybe, contract 
an irregular marriage. 

Gildas the Reformer 

Before passing on to an account of the later kings of ancient 
Cymry it is desirable to say something of this Gildas whose 
name we have so frequently mentioned. In one sense he is 
the only living man of the sixth century in Britain. Although 
a monk rather than a man of action, yet, through his writings, 
this cleric is known to us far better than are those warriors 
whose lives must have been spent in fighting, in the protection 
of the people, or in the extension of their power. 

This man of the Clyde was born in the year in which Arthur 
is supposed to have fought and won the battle of Mount 
Badon. He therefore belongs in point of time to the com- 
mencement of the sixth century. He was evidently admirably 
educated, and possessed a considerable knowledge of the 
classics and a command of Ivatin (although, unfortunately, he 
has an unhappy style) so great as to be immeasurably superior 
to the later author of the Historia Brittonum. In short, he 
was a schoolman, a classic, and a diligent student of the Bible. 
As to his religion, he was a Christian, and, unlike Bede, came 
of Christian stock and belonged to a Christian people. He 
refers to the ancient pagan worship as belonging to the far- 
away past. For him the old-time worship of trees and 
streams had no meaning. He was in all things a member 
of the British Church — indeed, a bigoted and narrow-minded 

93 



HISTORY' OF WALES 

monk. In nationality, though, perhaps, by birth either a 
Goidel or a Briton, he was in sentiment entirely Roman It 
is easy to see that his heart was well-nigh breaking at the 
thought that Roman learning and all the glories of that 
wonderful Empire were slipping away and that his countrymen 
were falling back into a relative barbarity. With this noble 
sorrow we cannot but sympathize, but it is a matter for regret 
that his continual lamentations and invective have robbed 
his work of much of its value as a history. That he had cause 
to inveigh against the wickedness of his age is probable. The 
age has not yet been in which one fired with religious zeal 
could not justly account his kind vile. As to Britain of the 
early sixth century, it is probable that it was in urgent need 
of a religious revival. This at least Gildas accomplished, so 
effectively, indeed, that the evening of his day was spent in 
directing the religious movement which his earlier writings 
had inspired. It was to this later movement that St. David 
belongs. 

The Struggle with Bernicia 

While this religious movement was progressing in eastern 
Britain a movement of a very different kind was advancing 
from the west and north. The kingdom of Bernicia, founded 
by Ide about the middle of the sixth century, was by the 
beginning of the seventh century an important state threaten- 
ing the very existence of the Cymry of both Strathclyde and 
Gwynedd, and ruled over by that Aethelfrith whom Bede 
describes as a very Saul for plundering his enemies, a leader 
who made more Britons slaves and drove more of the ancient 
inhabitants from their lands than any other Saxon king. 
Perhaps Professor lyloyd is correct when he suggests that it 
was the pressure which the rising power of Bernicia brought 
to bear upon the Britons of the west that created the term 
Cymry. The Briton and the Goidel cast aside race distinction 
in the face of a common foe and united as ' countrymen ' to 
make a combined resistance. 

It was perhaps to the earlier years of this struggle that 

94 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

Urien ap Cynfach, mentioned in tlie Saxon Genealogies/ 
belongs. There we find him described as the greatest leader 
of the Britons ; we find him besieging his enemies in lyindisf arne 
and carrying out an important campaign, the final success of 
which was only prevented by the treachery of one Morcant 
or Morgan, who planned and effected the death of his chief. 
The name Urien lived on, of course, in many a Welsh story, 
and it would seem that here we have a notable British chieftain 
of the north who spent his life resisting the inroads of the 
invaders. To about the same time, or perhaps earlier, belongs 
that Rhydderch who was credited with a great British victory 
at Arderydd, near Carlisle, in 575, His doings are, however, 
but little known to us, and we must pass him by and turn to 
a consideration of that other leader, Rhun or Run, who appears 
in the Harleian Genealogies as the successor of Mailcun or 
Maelgwn Gwynedd. 

Rhun 

In the laws of Howel Dha we find a reference to this Rhun, 
who is there also given as the son of Maelgwn. It appears 
that he was either the established or the usurping prince of 
Arvon. (The doubt exists since he is believed by some to 
have been illegitimate.) Arvon was that part of Carnarvon 
which lies between Bangor and Celynwg. It appears that a 
certain Elidge the Courteous came to Arvon from the north 
and was slain. He appears to have been a man of importance, 
so that we find ' the men of the north ' coming southward to 
avenge his death. In this they were apparently successful, 
destroying Arvon with fire. Then it was that Rhun assembled 
the men of Gwynedd in arms, and proceeded after the 
northerners, who not improbably were retiring to their homes, 
as far as the river Gweryd (Wear ?). Having got so far, the 
leaders appear to have had a fierce discussion as to who was 
entitled to precedence in passing over the river. The whole 
campaign seems to have been so protracted that it caused 
murmurings on the part of the soldiers, who, we gather, had 

1 Nennius, § 63. 

95 



HISTORY OF WALES 

good cause to want to get back to their homes. However this 
may be, we find Rhtin granting the men of Arvon, ostensibly 
as a reward for the trials of this campaign, but possibly in 
order to strengthen his grip on the throne, fourteen privileges. 
In later times Cadwallawn found it desirable to extend similar 
rights to the men of Powys. These grants were unimportant 
in nature, so that one example must suffice. Thus we read 
that the men of Arvon were never to be required to drink 
* stinted ' measure — that is to say, to drink a small amount 
measured with the finger. 

Cadvan 

We have but little knowledge of the kings who reigned 
over Gwynedd or any part of Wales between the time of 
Rhun and Cadvan. From the Harleian Genealogies it appears 
that the successor of Rhun was Beli, and that after Beli his 
son, lago, ruled. Of Cadvan we know a little more. This king, 
the father of Caed walla, or more correctly Cadwallawn, died 
c. 617. He was descended from Cunedda. He appears to 
have taken a leading part in the wars against the Northum- 
brians, which terminated so fatally in the battle of Chester. 
It has been conjectured that an inscription, Catamanus rex 
sapientisimus opinatisimus omnium regum, found on a stone 
above a door in the church of Ivlangadwaladr, in Anglesey, 
refers to him. If this be so, it is probable that the centre of 
the royal power of Gwynedd had already been removed from 
Deganwy to Aberffraw — which remained the princely house 
until the final overthrow of the Welsh princes, 

Cadwallawn 

Cadvan is, however, chiefly known to history as the father 
of the more famous Cadwallawn, who apparently commenced 
to reign over Gwynedd in 617. This Cadwallawn inherited 
his father's enmity for the Northumbrians. Aethelfrith had 
earned the bitter hatred of the Venedotians ^ by his victory at 
Chester, and Cadwallawn seems to have set himself the task 

1 An alternative name for the men of North Wales, or Venedote. 

96 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

of wiping out this defeat and re-establishing the old connexion 
with his fellow-countrymen of Strathclyde. We read of him 
invading Northumbria in 629, where, however, he suffered 
defeat at the hands of Badwine, Aethelfrith's successor. This 
battle, which probably took place near Morpeth, resulted in 
the Welsh king being driven back to Venedotia. According 
to the Annales Cambriae, we find, under date 629, a certain 
Catguollaun, who may be identified with Cadwallawn, besieged 
in the island of Glannauc. It has been suggested that this 
was the island of Priestholm, near Anglesey. We may perhaps 
infer from this that the Northumbrians had replied to Cad- 
wallawn's bold move by carrying the war into his own country. 
However this may be, we find him escaping to Ireland. He 
appears to have used his time of exile in thinking out a scheme 
by means of which he could recover his lost fortunes and 
finally overthrow his hereditary enemies. The decision he 
came to is certainly surprising. One would have thought that 
the last ally with whom a Christian king would identify him- 
self would have been Penda the Mercian, who was regarded by 
his people as the champion of paganism against Christianity. 
Nevertheless Cadwallawn in fact did determine to join himself 
as ally with Penda ^ in order to work the final overthrow of 
the Northumbrians. In 633 the Mercian and the Venedotian 
invaded Northumbria and defeated and slew Badwine at the 
battle of Hatfield Chase (Heathfield). Penda does not appear 
to have followed up his victory, but Cadwallawn, with the 
slaughter of Chester and his own defeats in his mind, ravaged 
southern Northumbria. In this devastation of Deira he seems 
to have shown the greatest ferocity. Not only did he put to 
death man, woman, and child, but he put them to death by 
torture. In 634 we find him defeating and killing Osric, 
cousin to Badwine, and Banfrith, son of Aethelfrith. It 
seemed, indeed, as though Chester and the Irish exile were 
being amply repaid. With the accession to power of Oswald 
the tables were again turned. At the battle of Oswald's 
Cross (Heavenfield), near Hexham, after certain pious exercises, 

* One genealogy makes him Penda's brother-in-law. 

G 97 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the Northumbrians attacked and completely defeated the 
British king. Cadwallawn himself fled, was pursued, and 
slain on the banks of a small stream near Dilston, east of 
Hexham. 

Cadwaladr 

Cadwallawn left a kingdom shattered by this great defeat. 
His successor was Cadwaladr Vendigaid (the Blessed). Details 
relating to his reign are almost non-existent. He possibly 
joined Penda as ally, as his father had done, in which case 
he is somewhat ill-named, for the leader of the British forces 
which were undoubtedly allied to Penda played a singularly 
ignoble part, basely deserting with the whole of his followers 
the night before the battle of Winwaed, and thus contributing 
in no small degree to the defeat and death of the aged pagan 
fighter Penda of Mercia, For this piece of treachery that 
British leader (whoever he may be, and the dates tally with 
Cadwaladr's reign) earned the base title of ' the king who ran 
away.' ^ 

This battle of Winwaed has been regarded by some as the 
most important battle that was ever fought in pre-Norman 
England. Its site has been tentatively identified by J. Travis 
Mills as the place where " the Ermine Street crossed, and still 
crosses, the river Went near the modern Standing Flats 
Bridge, some two miles to the south of Pontefract." The 
importance of the struggle lies in the fact that it decided 
finally that the Britons were not to be henceforth the ruling 
race in England.^ 

As to Cadwaladr, if he were not ' the king who ran away ' 
(and since we cannot prove it we must acquit him of that 
charge), we know singularly little of him. Even the place of 
his death is a matter of doubt, our two primary authorities, 
the Annates Camhriae and the Chronicles of the Princes, giving 

1 Ivloyd states that it was Cadafael, mentioned in the Triads as one of the 
three peasant kings of Britain, who earned this title. Cf. Nennius, § 65. 

2 From the point of view of Saxon history it was immensely important in 
consequence of the fact that Christianity was estabUshed as the dominant 
religion. 

98 



THE BIRTH OF THE CYMRY 

very different accounts. According to later historio-romancers, 
after reigning twelve years he was driven from Britain by the 
plague and sought refuge in Armorica, from whence he later 
returned to fight against the Saxons. Although showing the 
greatest personal bravery, he seems to have been fighting a 
losing battle, and we therefore find him retiring to Rome. 
Probably this last fact comes from the Chronicles of the Princes, 
which commences with the words : " Six hundred and eighty- 
one was the year of Christ when the great mortality took place 
through the whole island of Britain. And from the beginning 
of the world until that period one year was wanting of five 
thousand eight hundred and eighty years. And in that year 
Cadwaladr the Blessed, son of Cadwallawn, son of Cadvan, 
king of the Britons, died at Rome, on the twelfth day of May ; 
as Myrddin [Merlin] had previously prophesied to Vortigern 
of Repulsive I^ips ; and thenceforth the Britons lost the crown 
of the kingdom, and the Saxons gained it." 

If we turn, however, to the Annales we find a less fulsome, 
but probably more accurate, account of Cadwaladr's death. 
Under date 682 we read : " There was a great sickness in 
Britain, in which Catgualart, son of Catguollaun, perished." 
And under date 683 we read that the same plague devastated 
Hibernia. So probably Cadwaladr died of the plague in his 
own country of Venedote.^ 

The entry in the Chronicles of the Princes is, however, signifi- 
cant in one respect. With the death of Cadwaladr the kings 
of Britain end. In future they are but princes. 

* Cadwaladr seems to have been a good son of the Church. Many churches 
claim him as their patron saint or founder, notably Llangadwaladr, in Mon. 
Professor Ivloyd, relying on the Saxon Genealogies (Nennius, § 64), places his 
death in 664, the year when the plague raged with much violence. See Lloyd, 
History of Wales, vol, i, p. 230 n. See also p. 139, post. 



99 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF PRE- 
NORMAN WALES ^ 

THIS is a convenient time in which to break in upon 
the current of our account of the development of 
the history of the Cymry in order to explain the 
social and domestic condition of Wales in the times anterior 
to the coming of the Normans. The period of which we are 
now treating may be roughly described as that which elapsed 
between the departure of the Romans and the commencement 
of the struggle with the Norman marchers. Our authorities 
are to some extent Saxon authorities, dealing with Saxon times 
and Saxon people. When we are relying on them we shall 
be careful only to choose those portions of their writings 
which reflection has persuaded us are applicable to the Cymry. 
The Britons, as we have already remarked, had been brought 
into intimate connexion for many centuries with the civiliza- 
tion of Rome. Compared with the Jutes, Angles, Saxons, 
and Danes who later invaded Britain, they were a polished 
and enlightened people. They were acquainted with Latin 
and Greek, and had in their possession many of the classics 
written in those tongues. They had inherited from the 
Romans an advanced knowledge of domestic architecture, 
and of the arts and sciences which were known to the Romans. 
They cannot but have been acquainted with Roman law 
They had learned the methods of Roman traders, and they 

1 Lest the reader should regard us as guilty of an anachronism in placing 
this account, which depends for its facts upon tenth- to fourteenth-century 
works, so early in this book, it is desirable to point out that there are no 
grounds for believing that the social state of Wales altered materially between 
the time of Howel and Giraldus. 

TOO 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

had seen the value of Roman roads and the methods adopted 
by the Romans to secure peace by an extended system of 
fortified camps and strong, well-planned towns. They had 
lived for centuries under a system of land-holding which we 
may describe as the Roman villa system. They had been 
for many centuries a Christian people, acquainted with the 
various doctrines relating to that most wonderful religion. 
Yet it would seem that they retained many of their more 
ancient customs, and infused even into their religion forms 
and peculiarities which were alien to the more finished Italian 
system. 

Welsh Form of Land-tenure 

We will first consider the Welsh mode of land-tenure, since 
the whole structure of society does, as a rule, ultimately 
depend upon the land. The unit of holding with the Welsh 
was the wele or gwely. The method by which this unit was 
held and descended was somewhat as follows : Each Cymro — 
that is to say, each Briton who was regarded as a tribesman 
or compatriot, as distinct from a domiciled stranger or foreigner 
— was of necessity a member of a tribe. This tribe had in all 
cases a certain tribal holding of land — the gwely. This unit, 
this tribal holding, remained in the tribe, and the tribe looked 
back as far as the great-grandfather of the final holders ; that 
is to say, the family group owning a common ancestor remained 
as one group, occupying the family land in joint ownership, 
until the stage was reached at which the holders of the land 
were the great-grandchildren of the common ancestor On the 
great-grandfather's death there was an equal division of the 
land to his sons ; after the death of his sons to his grandsons ; 
after the death of his grandsons to his great-grandsons. All 
this time the gwely would be referred to as the gwely of A, the 
common ancestor. This stage having been reached, there 
would seem to have been a dividing up of the gwely among the 
great-grandsons, though it would not appear that there were 
as many new groups or gwelys formed as there were great- 
grandsons. Possibly the new gwelys were counted, not from 

lOI 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the great-grandsons, but from the grandsons, though this is 
not clear. 

We see, therefore, that during the stages between the com- 
mencement and redivision of a gwely the various holders of 
the family lands held jointly as kinsmen tracing their descent 
from a common ancestor. This, of course, explains the im- 
portance which is attached to genealogies in all the Welsh 
chronicles and land-books. All title depended upon birth, 
and an excellent proof of birth was to be found in these same 
genealogies, though it could be proved otherwise, especially 
by means of the hearthstone. 

Every tribesman on coming of age had given to him a portion 
of land to cultivate for his maintenance {cyvarwys), and the 
right to till jointly with others the waste or common land 
and the right to hunt. These gifts were not made to him by 
his father — ^for his father had not individual ownership; it 
was made to him by the tribe, speaking probably through the 
tribal chief. It is, indeed, perhaps hardly correct to speak of 
it as a gift ; it was rather his by right, by right of kin and 
descent. Until the young tribesman reached the age of 
fourteen he was maintained by his father in his father's home. 
When that age was reached he was removed to his chief's 
establishment, became his chief's ' man,' and looked to his 
chief for maintenance. He had also at the same time a gift 
of cattle {da) made to him by the chief. In later times this 
da included other personal property besides cattle. On his 
death without sons this gift reverted to his lord ; if he had 
sons it seems probable that, at least by the tenth century, the 
sons inherited. It will be understood that this gift, though 
it came directly from the chief, came indirectly from the tribe, 
for the chief was custodian of the undivided communal property 
— ^he merely distributed the common stock. It will be observed 
that as soon as the child emerged from infancy he passed 
completely out of parental control. He became the son of 
the tribe rather than of his father. This is strongly brought 
out when we consider the rules relating to galanas, or blood- 
money. Every one familiar with the Anglo-Saxon dooms will 
102 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

remember the remarkable provisions which assign to every 
offence from murder downward an appropriate fine payable 
as a punishment by the offender or by those who had guaran- 
teed in advance his good behaviour. These fines are also 
found in the Welsh laws, and are known as galanas. Now 
if a son committed murder his father's kin paid two-thirds 
and his mother's kin paid one- third of the appropriate galana 
(it varied with the importance of the murdered person) to the 
kin of the victim. We find, however, both in the Venedotian 
and Dimetian Code that the father of the murderer paid nothing 
and the father of the victim received one penny only, " since 
his son is no relative to him." Again, we find in a fifteenth- 
century treatise the following remarkable statement : " Can 
a father complain for the killing of his son ? He cannot : 
he is not within the grades of affinity." 

So far as to the land within the gwely. This land could not, 
of course, be alienated by the holder ; it had of necessity to 
remain in the family ; it was, so to speak, entailed to the use 
of the kin, and it passed on death in a manner similar, in 
some respects, to gavelkind land, common in Kent. It is a 
holding similar to the old Irish system of land-holding. There 
was, however, another system of owning property, land as 
well as chattels. Individual ownership of both was possible. 
Such individual ownership should be kept distinct from the 
holding within the gwely or tribe. This ' personal ' property 
could be alienated (with the consent of the heir), sold, given 
away, settled as a dowry, etc. ; it could be held by ' strangers,' 
who could have no part in tribal property. 

Again, on marriage it was customary with the Welsh for 
the wife to have a dowry. It seems to have been the universal 
custom for the Welsh maid to have some property to take to 
her husband. This property, as in the Roman and the modern 
civil law systems, either passed to the husband or was ' declared ' 
as belonging to the wife. This, in our opinion, is a heritage 
from Rome. The principle is well known to-day in South 
Africa, Ceylon (Roman-Dutch law), Quebec (Civil law), and 
Scotland, as well as upon the Continent. If the property was 

103 



HISTORY OF WALES 

declared or defined at the time of the marriage it became the 
wife's ; she was a ' proprietrix/ and could contract debts 
and bind herself in respect of it — a state of things which has 
existed in England at law (as distinguished from equity) only 
since 1882.^ Such separate property passed to the children 
of the marriage on the death of the wife. 

This system of land-holding lived on until the time of 
Henry VIII, being expressly preserved by the Statute of 
Rhuddlan, which permitted an alternative holding either in 
the Welsh or English manner. It will be remarked that 
primogeniture had no part at any time in the Welsh system. 
Even the individually owned land probably went on death 
to the sons equally — in default of sons, it went to the daughters 
equally. 

There is another peculiarity found in the Welsh system 
which to us looks like Roman law. As Seebohm has pointed 
out, the gwely resembled the group under patria potestas — one 
of the most peculiarly Roman domestic arrangements, whereby 
all agnatic relations were under the control of their oldest 
common paternal ancestor living. He had absolute power in 
early times (we are speaking of Rome at the period of the 
Twelve Tables, c. 452 B.C.) over their bodies and their property. 
Now under the Roman system daughters were also under 
patria potestas until they married ; on marriage they passed 
to the family of their husband, and were under the same 
control as their husband was. Under the Welsh system the 
descendants of daughters were not included in the gwely ; they 
were included in the kindred if they had been married into it. 

We desire here to clear up a doubt which may be in the 
mind of the more critical reader. To say that the Welsh laws 
are derived from the Roman law by way of the Roman 
occupation would be a bold proposition to make. It is 
necessary, therefore, to mention that our authority for the 
above-mentioned rules relating to Welsh law is derived in the 
main from the Welsh codes of Howel Dha — a tenth-century 
compilation which dates in manuscript form from the thirteenth 

^ Or in certain cases since 1870. 
104 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

century. Howel had himself been in Rome ; he and his 
councillors had before them, without doubt, the Leges Barba- 
rorum or the Code of Charlemagne, both founded on the 
compilations of Justinian. It may be, therefore, that these 
rules got their Roman flavour in one or both of two ways : 
either because the Britons had engrafted Roman law and 
custom on to their own system during the Roman occupation 
or because of a too faithful copying of the Roman or barbarian 
codes by the scribes who at Howel's instigation compiled 
these Welsh laws. Which is the right alternative we are 
quite unable to determine. It appears to be a matter for 
individual opinion. Certain rules relating to easements are 
so well developed and so near the Roman model that they 
rather suggest copying. In one important matter, however, 
we find Howel refusing to follow the system of Italy. He 
expressly stated that the illegitimate son should be entitled 
to succeed on intestacy. Truly a most ancient rule, pointing 
back to the old system of a matriarchal state, where men 
traced their family through females.^ 

As we have said, no one but a countryman or compatriot 
could hold land within the gwely. The question thus arises : 

^ The Welsh rules relating to inheritance, birthright, fosterage, and the 
relationship between father and son have the most direct effect upon Welsh 
history. If there is one thing more than another wliich resulted in the weak- 
ness of the PrincipaUty, it is certainly the fact that on the death of a prince 
or chief his territory was divided up among all his sons. This was a weakness, 
tending as it did to decentraUzation. The system might have worked with 
tolerable success had brothers in Wales regarded one another as friends and 
near relatives. It is clear, however, that the bond between brothers was 
of the weakest description. Born possibly of different mothers, some legiti- 
mate, others, according to modern views, illegitimate, their sole tie was their 
common father. As soon as infancy was left behind they passed from their 
father's house or palace into the family of a foster-parent. This foster- 
parent always attempted to advance his own foster-children, so that foster- 
brothers were much nearer in interest and friendship than brothers were. 
On a prince's death, as has been said, his territory was divided among his 
sons. These sons would enter upon their inheritance as strangers to one 
another, having quite diverse interests and under the control, to some extent, 
of their foster-parents, who would probably in many cases seek to advance 
their own and their pupil's interest by setting brother against brother. That 
this peculiar system had an immense influence on Welsh history will, we 
beheve, be evident to the reader when the later chapters of this book have 
been perused. 

105 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Was it possible for a stranger ever to become a Cymro ? The 
answer, paradoxical though it may seem, is Yes and No ! 
No stranger could by his own unaided effort become a Cymro, 
except by saving the life of a Cymro, or by avenging his death, 
or by waging combat for him. But, though an individual 
stranger could not become of the kin of a Cymric tribe, a 
stranger tribe could come to be regarded as a Cymric tribe — 
but only by a residence in Cymru for nine successive genera- 
tions or by intermarriage with Cymraeses generation after 
generation for four generations. If a Cymraes married a 
stranger, her children were strangers and suffered the usual 
disabilities attaching to those who could not claim kinship 
with a Cymric tribe — ^viz. their evidence would not be admissible 
against a countryman, they would not be allowed to bear 
arms or to indulge in horsemanship or hunting, and they would 
be ineligible for the honourable professions of bard, scholar, or 
smith. 

On the other hand, it was possible for a Cymro to lose his 
kinship. Thus a traitor to his kindred was declared a kin- 
broken man and was banished from Cymru. When such a 
sentence was decreed we are told that it was required of every 
one of either sex and every age within hearing of the horn to 
follow the exile and to keep up the barking of dogs to the time 
of his putting to sea, and until he should have passed three- 
score hours out of sight. Truly a form of procedure calculated 
to impress upon the traitor a sense of the utter detestation 
in which his one-time kindred now held him. 

Organization of the Tribe 

As to the internal organization of the tribe, each tribe seems 
to have recognized three leaders : (i) the chief, who apparently 
represented the kin in the councils of the court and possibly 
acted as judge in the tribal court ; (2) the avenger, who led 
the tribe in battle, and whose duty it was to punish wrong- 
doers ; (3) the representative, who seems to have been the 
ambassador of the tribe in all dealings with foreign tribes 
or powers. We have a feeling, however, that this threefold 
106 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

division of power owes itself rather to the Celtic love of groups 
of three and seven than to the fact that there were three such 
chiefs. Anyone acquainted with the Brehon law tracts will 
remember how frequently one finds forced triplets, as in the 
passage in the Senchus Mor : " There are three periods at 
which the world dies, the period of plague, of a general war, 
of the dissolution of verbal agreements." ^ These groups of 
three should not, we think, be too much relied upon. It is 
probable, however, that the chief who led the tribe in council 
was distinct from the chief who commanded in time of war. 
We are told that the former was the oldest efficient man in the 
kin to the ninth degree. It is evident that a more active 
leader would be required in wartime. 

The outward sign of membership of a tribe was the tonsure. 
Perhaps the reader will remember that in the story of Kilhwch 
and Olwen, Kilhwch, when asked by Arthur what boon he 
would like, replied, " I would that thou bless my hair," where- 
upon Arthur took a golden comb and scissors. Doubtless 
Kilhwch's request was construed as a request to be admitted 
as one of Arthur's tribe — as, in fact, Arthur's man and kinsman. 

We now pass from our outline treatment of the Welsh 
tribal system to a consideration of the daily life of the Welsh. 
Before doing so, however, it will be convenient to say some- 
thing about the territorial, political, and social divisions which 
existed. 

Political Divisions 

Wales itself, roughly speaking, was divided into three chief 
kingdoms, Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth. Kach of these 
kingdoms (including Anglesey, or Mon, which was part of 
Gwynedd) was divided into so many honours, and each honour 
into cantrefs, the cantrefs being subdivided into commots or 
cymwds. Thus Gwynedd was divided into what we may 
term the honours (an inelegancy, since this is a term of art 
foreign to Cymru) Mon (Anglesey), Arvon, Meirionydd, and 
Y Berfeddwlad (Inner Country). Mon in turn was divided 

1 Senchus Mor (RoUs Series), vol. i, p. 51. 

107 



HISTORY OF WALES 

into the cantrefs of Aberffraw, Cemais, Rossyr. Aberffraw was 
bisected into the cymwds Lleyn and Malltraeth. The cymwd 
(cymmwd) was the unit of government. Each cymwd and can- 
tref had an organization separate from those of its neighbours. 
It is probable that rulership of the cantref was given by the king 
or prince of Gwynedd, Powys, or Deheubarth, as the case might 
be, to some important tribal person, who thereupon became lord 
of the cantref. Sometimes we find several cantrefs under one 
man, who generally styles himself prince or king. Thus Merion, 
grandson of Cunedda, got as his share of the plunder of the 
Scots of North Wales the division of land which later became 
the honour or county of Meirionydd. In the normal case, 
however, it is probable that there was no intermediate between 
the chief of a cantref and the king or prince. This chief in 
turn appointed officers to carry out the executive duties of 
government in each cymwd. Thus we find in each cymwd 
certain persons such as the maer and canghellor, with definite 
duties. Each cymwd also had a court, presided over by a 
judge, probably chosen for his wisdom. Side by side with 
these political or governmental divisions it is necessary to 
remember that the tribal divisions existed. As in Rome, a son 
might have jurisdiction over his father in the public court of the 
cymwd, while his father was judge over him in the tribal court. 

Status 

The divisions of status were even more numerous. In the 
first place it is necessary to distinguish between countrymen 
or tribesmen, domiciled or intermarried strangers who were 
on the way to being treated as tribesmen, and strangers. The 
stranger was not improbably regarded as little more than a 
serf or slave. As we have seen, he was not permitted to bear 
arms — a fact which, if it stood alone, would lead us to believe 
that the non-tribesmen, having no power to fight, had few rights 
to claim. Even after a residence in Cymru for four generations, 
although such strangers seem to have been recognized by the 
tribesmen and could hold land under the tribal chief, they 
were by no means in the same position as tribesmen. They 
io8 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

held land, it is true, and their holding was recognized by the 
tribal chief, but they seem to have been mere nativi, persons 
bound to the land they tilled — unable to leave save by the 
consent of their superior. Thus we may say that the division 
into tribesman and non-tribesman was equivalent to the 
division free and unfree. The unfree were subdivided into 
taeogau, who had certain legal rights — e.g. they could make 
binding contracts — and caethion, or pure slaves. These latter 
performed all the more menial offices. 

The tribesmen were divided into classes : the royal class ; the 
noble class, or uchelwyr ; the commoners, or honeddigion. Within 
the classes all were equal, save that, as we have seen, the eldest 
in the tribe had pre-eminence, and, further, that the avenger 
and the representative had certain special rights and duties. 

Side by side with these main divisions there also existed, of 
course, the various grades of professions and employments. 
We may perhaps gather from the order of precedence recog- 
nized among the king's household in what respect and honour 
the various professions were held. Thus in the Venedotian 
Code we find the king's court formed of the following officers, 
arranged in the following order : 

{a) The Chief of the Household. 
[h) The Priest of the Household. 

(c) The Steward. 

[d) The Chief Falconer. 

{e) The Judge of the Court. 

(J) |The Chief Groom. 

[g) The Page of the Chamber. 

{h) The Bard of the Household. 

[i) The Silentiary. 

(;■) The Chief Huntsman. 

\k) The Mead-brewer. 

(/) The Mediciner. 

(m) The Butler. 

(n) The Doorward. 

(o) The Cook. 

ip) The Candle-bearer. 

109 



HISTORY OF WALES 

This list does not mention the Smith of the Court, who was 
an important person. It may be that the above is not the 
strict order of precedence. We have an account of the position 
at table which the courtiers had to occupy, but the order is a 
little difficult to follow in consequence of the peculiar arrange- 
ment of the tables and screens in the royal palace. We may, 
however, say that of the chief professions the following was 
the order : (i) high executive officers ; (2) the priest ; (3) the 
judge ; (4) the bard ; (5) the smith ; (6) the mediciner. Of 
course there was no distinction between soldier and civilian, 
because all were soldiers. Bach of these various persons had 
what we may term an ' insult value,' or saraad, as well as a 
life price (his 'worth'). Thus if anyone snatched anything 
out of a queen's hand it was necessary to pay her saraadi 
The king's saraad was rather extraordinary and deserves 
mention. It consisted of a hundred cows for each cantref ; 
a white bull with red ears for every hundred cows ; a rod of 
gold equal in length to himself and as thick as his little finger ; 
and a plate of gold as broad as his face and as thick as the 
nail of a ploughman who has been a ploughman for seven 
years. The saraad of the Chief of the Household was a third 
of the king's (except the gold) ; the priest's was an amount 
to be decided by the synod ; the steward's nine kine and nine 
score of silver ; the others down to the silentiary, six kine and 
six score of silver. 

The Bard 

We have seen that one of the important officers of the 
king's court was the bard. The bards occupy a very singular 
position in ancient Cymru. We read in Diodorus Siculus that 
among the Gauls (a similar race to the Cymry of Wales) there 
were composers of verses called bards. These sang to instru- 
ments similar to lyres. Strabo refers to the bards as being 
singers and poets, and they are mentioned by many of the 
ancient historians. Probably, indeed almost certainly, the 
bards were connected with the Druids. Their duties consisted 
in singing for the amusement or elevation of their patrons, and 
no 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

in recording by means of verses, so designed and so arranged 
in cadences that they were easily committed to memory, 
national events desirable to be known. They also had the 
recording of marriages and the drafting of genealogies com- 
mitted to their charge. They formed, according to the Triads, 
one of the three sacred classes whose members were inviolable. 
The harp was one of the three things privileged from distress. 

The court seems to have had two bards in attendance, the 
Chaired Bard and the Bard of the Household. In the sixteenth- 
century Triads we find the bardic office arranged in the usual 
threefold division. First was the Primitive Bard, whose right 
to be regarded as a bard appears to have depended upon 
his being the follower or disciple of a recognized teacher. It 
was this, the lowest class of bard, which had entrusted to it the 
duty of recording " every memorial of art and sciences so far 
as they might be in its department . . . and hkewise every 
memorial and record of country and kindred, in respect to 
marriages, and kins, and arms, and territorial divisions, and 
the privileges of the country and kindred of the Cymry." The 
second class were the Ovates, who seem to have been graduates 
in bardism approved by a session or congress of bards. They 
had not to show discipleship to another bard. They seem to 
have been the teachers of the arts and sciences. The last and 
highest class were the Druid bards. These seem also to have 
been teachers, philosophers, and leaders of religion. Too 
much reliance should not, however, be placed upon information 
contained in the Triads, for it is a sixteenth-century forgery 
purporting to describe the customs of the sixth century. It 
also suffers from its artificial construction — everything being 
grouped into threes, which manifestly could not have been the 
case in fact. It is therefore a relief to turn to the laws of 
Howel Dha, which at least do not attempt to sail under false 
colours, for our further information relating to the bards. 

Howel's laws were, as is perhaps known to the reader, 
drawn up with the aid of a committee selected from the 
Archbishop of Menevia, other bishops and the chief of the 
clergy, the nobles of Wales, and six persons from each cymwd, 

III 



HISTORY OF WALES 

who all met at the Y Ty Gwyn ar Dav, or the White House on 
the river Taff, which was near the site of Whitland Abbey in 
Caermarthenshire. The White House derived its name from 
the white rods of which it was constructed. It was a hunting 
lodge belonging to Howel. From the above-mentioned persons 
Howel selected twelve, and added as secretary, Blegywryd, 
Archdeacon of I^landaff, and brother to Morgan, king of 
Glamorgan, and to Geraint the Blue Bard, who was a poet 
and grammarian of importance. In the lolo manuscripts 
we find the following description of Geraint : " The oldest 
system on record of memorials and recollections is that of 
Geraint the Blue Bard upon poetic metres, and of all that is 
extant from before his time there is nothing remaining except 
what may be discerned by the learned by means of books. 
This Geraint was brother of Morgan the Aged, King of Gla- 
morgan, and he collected ancient records of poetry and bardism, 
and arranged them in a book of his own composition, and 
established them by the laws of the chair and Gorsedd in 
every country and dominion in Wales ; and Geraint excelled 
in knowledge and judgment, and every chair in Wales and 
England was given to him, from which he was called the Blue 
Bard of the Chair. After this he became domestic bard to 
Alfred, King of England, and he remained with him, giving 
instructions to the Cymry in England, and to the Saxons ; 
and in Winchester he lies buried." He has been tentatively 
identified with Asser. It will be remembered that Asser 
completed his account of Alfred's reign in 888 (at least his 
account ends with that year). The laws of Howel were com- 
pleted in their original form not later than 914, probably some 
few years earlier. Asser died in 908, according to the Annates 
Camhriae. Possibly the true date is 910. 

With such bards directly or indirectly concerned in its 
production, one might expect to find some details concerning 
bardism in the laws themselves, and in this expectation one is 
not disappointed. We read that the Bard of the Household 
had as special privileges his land free, his horse in attendance 
and his linen from the queen, his woollen clothing coming 
112 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

from the king. He sat next to the chief of the household at 
the three principal feasts, and it was the chief of the household 
who placed the harp in the bard's hands when he was required 
to sing. When songs were desired, the chaired bard had to 
begin singing, first a religious piece, and secondly a song in 
honour of the king. After the chaired bard came the bard of 
the household, who sang songs on various subjects. One 
of the special privileges of the chief of the household was 
that he could require the bard to sing to him at any time. We 
find a delightful touch when we read that " If the Queen desire 
a song, let the bard of the household go to sing to her without 
limitation, hut in a low voice, so that the hall may not be 
disturbed by him." ^ Another duty of the bard was to 
celebrate a victory in song, singing, as the victors shared the 
spoil, the song called " The Monarchy of Britain " {Unbenaeth 
Prydain). His duties were, of course, quite different from those 
of the jester, who was much lower in the social scale. 

Welsh Druidism 

As we have said, intimately connected with the bards were 
the Druids, who, if we follow Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, 
are to be distinguished from the soothsayers. It will, of 
course, be remembered that the Druids and their religion had 
long since been superseded by Christianity. According to 
Suetonius, in the early days of the Roman occupation Claudius 
had forbidden the performance of the Druidical rites under 
severe penalties. As far as Wales is concerned Druidism had 
become at most a secret and fugitive religion by the end of 
the first century A.D. In Caledonia it lasted on, apparently, 
until about the time of Severus — that is to say, till some time 
early in the third century. 

With the passing of the Druids there appears to have been 

no lessening in the extraordinary veneration in which those 

leaders of religious, philosophical, and scientific thought had 

1 He was also directed to sing to her the song of Camlan, i.e. Camelot. If 
this was because Camelot was the result of a woman's infideUty, and if this 
part of the laws was really of the tenth century, it has an important bearing 
upon the origin of the Arthurian legend. 

H 113 



HISTORY OF WALES 

been held by the commonalty. Henceforth, however, it was 
the priests of the new order who were looked up to ; and they, 
in conjunction with the bards, were the upholders of the 
torch of learning in the dark ages of Welsh history. 

We believe that many of the old Druidical practices and 
much of the old sun-worship lasted on long after the intro- 
duction of the Christian religion. Such an event as the 
interposition of the monks of Bangor between the opposing 
forces at Chester reminds one strongly of Druidic custom. 
Then, again, what is one to think when one reads in 1912 
of a young man being fined in South Wales by the magis- 
trates for stopping a bridal procession by stretching a 
piece of rope across the road and demanding tribute ? His 
substantial defence was that it was an ancient custom — 
similar, indeed, to the Hoke Day practices. Now it has been 
suggested quite recently,^ and the suggestion is supported by 
a certain amount of evidence, that this custom and the 
Hoke Day festival itself go back right to the time of the 
Druids ; right to the period when the sun-worshippers were 
raising the circle at Stonehenge — far past the time when 
Caesar landed in these islands. The rope stretched across the 
road represents the cord with which the sacrificial victim was 
caught and bound. The sacrifice itself and the watch to keep 
off evil spirits are also represented in modern observances. 
These ceremonies took place in the spring, and were not 
improbably sacrificial religious rites connected with the 
blessing of the forthcoming seed-time. We gather from 
Giraldus Cambrensis that the Welsh ploughed for oats in 
March and April, and for wheat in summer and winter. Since 
Hoke Day falls on the second Tuesday after Easter, it will be 
seen that it agrees roughly with the Welsh seed-time. Of 
course the fixing of the date from Easter {Pasg) argues against 
a pagan origin, but it is by no means clear that the early 
British Christians did not take over, so to say, the old pagan 
festivals and days of fasting. It would even be difficult 
at this distance of time and in the state of our authorities to 

1 See the article by Dr. Bellot in Law Quarterly Review. 1913. 
114. 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

deny definitely that the conflict between the British Church 
and St. Augustine regarding the fixing of Easter may not 
have arisen out of the fact that the British day was based on 
pagan calculations. 

However this may be, the new religion appears to have 
become quite early firmly fixed among the Britons.^ By the 
tenth century we find the Welsh monks, then, of course, the 
leaders of the ancient British Church and still the opponents 
of the Christianity planted in England by Augustine, pre- 
siding over colleges at Llanrillied and at Cattwg at which 
Saxon gentlemen went to receive the polish apparently 
unobtainable at that time (a.d, 959) in England. The result 
of this opening of the doors to the Saxon nobility was unfor- 
tunate for the monks, for we find Owain, son of Howel Dha, 
demolishing these colleges on account of the extension of their 
fellowship to Saxons. 

We have already mentioned the monastery at Bangor-on- 
Dee — a monastery containing more than two thousand monks 
at the time of the battle of Chester, a monastery which acted 
as a centre of learning, eradiating knowledge not only to 
the eastern part of this island, but also to Ireland. By the 
eighth century at latest monasteries had been established at 
Basingwerk and Coleshill, and Menevia was the centre of 
St. David's activities even in the sixth century. 

Everyday Life of the Cymry 

In considering the everyday life of the Cymry of the period 
of the kings, we will take the case of an average man who was 
neither a priest nor bard, smith, carpenter, or mediciner. 
Such a man would, as a rule, be engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, having as his sports — ^if a freeman — war, horseman- 
ship, and hunting. If but a youth he was taught farming, 
especially dairy-farming, and weaving. On coming of age he 
was given, as we have seen, land which he cultivated for 
himself. The system of land cultivation was not dissimilar to 

^ Certainly not later than the fourth century, and possibly as early as the 
second century. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the English manorial system, save that the grouping of the 
cottages was in Wales always in hamlets. All the mere 
labourer's work, whether on the land or at the lord's corn-mill, 
was done by persons who were unfree, the domestic and menial 
duties being performed by slaves. 

The farm labourers, though unfree, were not absolutely 
without rights. Being unfree, they could not, of course, have 
any share in the tribal lands. It would seem, however, that, 
in return for their services, the lord protected them from 
oppression and allotted to them a certain amount of land 
(worked on the strip or common field system), from which 
they raised the vegetables and food-stuffs with which to make 
such payments in kind as their lord might demand either in 
exchange for or in addition to direct service. Thus in later 
times we find villeins working at their lord's mill and doing 
carriage service besides paying rent (about 2s. 6d. a year) for 
their holdings. They were, however, relieved from the payment 
of reliefs and amohr (maiden-fee) . With regard to the payments 
in kind, the laws of Howel mention the following : sheep, 
lambs, kids, hens, cheese, butter, milk, hay, straw, fuel. In 
the later extents we read of six tenements rendering jointly 
three sheep, six lambs, nine hens, butter, one hundred eggs. 
The value was fixed at 5s. 

The distribution of the manorial estate would be somev/hat 
as follows : In the centre would be found the mansion and 
home farm, and surrounding these, not improbably, the tribal 
lands inhabited by freemen. Outside, perhaps miles away, 
would lie the hamlets of the villeins. 

The villeins were called to work by the porter or horn- 
blower. They ploughed with oxen, according to Giraldus, and, 
as we have already stated, ploughing was done in March and 
April for oats and in summer and winter for wheat, thus 
pointing to a double harvest. As in Scotland and the Isle of 
Man, the ploughman walked backward when ploughing. These 
farm labourers worked under the supervision of a land-maer 
Oats formed the chief crop, though a large variety of cereals 
and field produce was not improbably known to the Welsh. 
116 




PRE-NORMAN WALES 

In a most interesting work dating from the tenth century, 
and dealing primarily with the everyday life, habits, diseases, 
food-stuffs, and cures common among the Saxons, we find a 
vast number of food-stuffs and drinks mentioned. We believe 
that the standard of living was much the same in Wales at a 
similar period and in times of comparative peace. Since this 
work throws some extremely interesting sidelights on the 
everyday life of the people of those times we purpose to make 
some mention of it. 

We are told that at banquets gleemen were generally in 
attendance to render songs appropriate to the occasion. At 
great feasts the dishes were of silver and the drinking-vessels 
were of glass. Glass had, of course, 
been manufactured in England long 
before the departure of the Romans, 
and the site of one of the most 
important factories has been dis- 

-, , r r ill 1 r DRAWING OF A Pl<OUGH IN 

covered not far from the border of i,i,anstephen MS. ii6 
North Wales. These glass vessels 

were sometimes transparent, sometimes opaque. Salt was 
largely used, being brought from Cheshire and Worcestershire, 
where there were brine evaporation furnaces. The drinks used 
at that time were beer, ale, double brewed ale (containing malt 
and sometimes hops), mead (a sweet intoxicating drink), wines, 
and certain others of a special kind — e.g. hydromel, and ' the 
southern acid drink * called oxymel, made from vinegar, 
honey, and water, and regarded as a cure for the ' half-dead ' 
disease and epilepsy. The fruits grown were sweet apples, 
pears, peaches, medlars, plums, and cherries. Several of these, 
without doubt, had been introduced by the Romans — sweet 
apples, for example.^ 

As to the food-stuffs, it would be wearisome to recount all 
the various delicacies open to the gourmet of a.d. igog. We 
will content ourselves with mentioning that the Cymry were 

1 As to ordinary trees, we find mentioned the oak, beech, birch, hawthorn, 
sloe-thorn, elm, maple, holly, and walnut. The last-mentioned was an 
imported tree ; the others were probably indigenous. 

117 



HISTORY OF WALES 

acquainted with oyster patties and they stuffed their fowls with 
bread and parsley. It is interesting to note that invalids had 
special dietaries allowed them. Thus we find the following 
mentioned as suitable for a sick man : chickens, giblets, pigs' 
trotters, eggs, broth, milk dishes, junkets. We also have 
preserved to us the daily allowance of a boy while being 
educated at a monastery. This youth was comparatively 
poor, since we are told that he drank ale or water because he 
could not afford wine. Among eatables he had the following 
choice : herbs, fish, cheese, butter, beans, and flesh meats. 
Doubtless we should add bread. ^ 

Domestic Architecture 

As to the domestic appointments, Seebohm, working, 
doubtless, on the authority of Howel's laws and Giraldus 
Cambrensis, has described the Welsh house as follows : " The 
tribal house was built of trees newly cut from the forest. A 
long straight pole is selected for the roof -tree. Six well-grown 
trees with suitable branches, apparently reaching over to 
meet one another, and of about the same size as the roof-tree, 
are stuck upright in the ground at even distances in two 
parallel rows, three in each row. Their extremities bending 
over make a Gothic arch, and crossing one another at the top 
each pair makes a fork, upon which the roof -tree is fixed. 
These trees supporting the roof -tree are called gavaels [? gavl\, 
forks, or columns, and they form the nave of the tribal house. 
Then, at some distance back from these rows of columns or 
forks, low walls of stakes and wattle shut in the aisles of the 
house, and over all is the roof of branches and rough thatch, 
while at the aisles behind the pillars are placed beds of rushes, 
called gwelyau [lecti], on which the inmates sleep. The foot- 
boards of the beds between the columns form their seats in 
the daytime. The fire is lighted on an open hearth in the 
centre of the nave between the two middle columns." 

If this be an accurate description of an average Welsh tribal 

* The Welsh did not, however, eat much bread. Their diet consisted 
mainly of meat and milk and milk products. 

ii8 



4.' 



mr^ '^ B "h'-S Hs- c-*^ 



lis &>rriii- 






*" _. u 
















C! o 

p >^ 

3 ^ 

'a o 

-= pq 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

house, then we must confess that the Britons carried with 
them in their flight to Wales very Httle of the knowledge 
relating to domestic architecture which they must have 
possessed in some degree after so many centuries of Roman 
rule. That this description is correct we have no reason to 
doubt. Indeed, even the better sort of houses would seem to 
have been fashioned in similar manner. The reader will 
probably remember that the White House at which Howel's 
laws were compiled was a king's hunting-box built of white 
wattles. It is odd if the early Welsh were less cultivated and 
luxurious than the Saxons, yet the Saxons had feather beds, 
with bolsters and pillows.^ 

Small houses were not even as elaborate as the rude con- 
struction mentioned above. They were simple wattle and 
wood buildings, circular in shape, with the fireplace in the 
centre and beds of rushes all around. The occupants slept 
as soldiers do to-day in tents — with their feet to the centre. 
Such buildings were probably inhabited by the taeogau. 

Cures and Cunning 

As we have already seen, medicine was a special profession. 
The mediciners were not improbably acquainted with the 
Greek and Roman authorities on surgery and physic. That 
the Saxons were possessed of such knowledge is certain, and 
it is almost inconceivable that the Britons should not have 
been. Most of the remedies we read of were herbal. Surgery 
seems to have been in its infancy. Some of the cures are 
based on charms or magic. Thus we find that the following 
was regarded as a cure for a fever : " Take the right foot 
shank of a black dead hound, hang it on the arm ; it 
shaketh off the fever." We have also an interesting charm 
given for catching a swarm of bees. The method was as 
follows : 

" Take some earth, throw it with thy right hand under thy 
right foot and say, ' I take under foot, I am trying what earth 

1 Columba, writing to Rhydderch in the sixth century, foretold that he 
would die in bed " on his couch of feathers." 

119 



HISTORY OF WALES 

avails for everything in the world, and against spite and 
against malice, and against the mickle tongue of man, and 
against displeasure.' Throw over them some gravel where 
they swarm and say : 

" ' Sit ye, my ladies, sink, 
Sink ye to earth down ; 
Never be so wild 
As to the wood to fly. 
Be ye as mindful of my good as every man is of meat and estate.' " 

A great number of these cures reflect the immense amount 
of superstitions which were current throughout Britain in 
those ages. Since our authority is not Cymric, it would be 
undesirable to do more than merely mention the kind of fears 
that seem to have harassed the people. We find a recipe for 
a drink " against a devil and dementedness," and we have a 
cure in a case where the patient has been overlooked by the 
evil eye. Klf-sickness in one form or another seems to have 
been very common, and dreams and nightmares were the 
subjects of much study. In such a state of society it is 
perhaps superfluous to add that the love-philtre and its 
converse, the knot, were commonly sought after. 

We find an interesting cure for ' doing away a dwarf.' 
Thus we read : "To do away a dwarf, give to the troubled 
man to eat thost of a white hound pounded to dust and mingled 
with meal and baked to a cake ere the hour of the dwarf's 
arrival, whether by day or by night it be ; his access is terribly 
strong, and after that it diminisheth and departeth away." 

Valuations 

In the laws of Howel Dha we have reference to a vast 
number of articles used by the people of those times, the reason 
being that with the Welsh everything had an appropriate 
price or value, so that if a thing were injured or if the household 
goods had to be divided — e.g. between husband and wife on 
separation — the exact value of each thing was known. The 
Venedotian Code alone gives a list of more than two hundred 
and fifty articles whose value had been appraised. It is 
therefore obvious that we cannot give an account of these 
1 20 




Pirate XXVI. Cei^tic Cross in I,i,anbadarn Favvr Churchyard 



PRE-NORMAN WALES 

chattels in detail. Most of the things are either clothing, 
articles of the chase, furniture, or instruments of husbandry, 
agriculture, carpentry, or smithcraft. The harp and its 
tuning-key are very prominent. The harp was evidently 
regarded as of great value, a king's harp being priced at six 
score pence, while a willow pail was only worth one penny. An 
iron spade was likewise worth one penny ; a chicken was 
valued at one farthing. One of the most valuable things was 
the buffalo horn out of which certain highly placed persons 
were permitted to drink. These buffalo horns were valued at 
a pound, or the value of a hundred and twenty battle-axes or 
sixty gilded spurs. Plaids, pillows, and cauldrons were also 
set high in the list of values, a pillow, probably of feathers, 
being priced at exactly the same amount as a weaver's loom, 
viz. at twenty-four pence. 

Many of the things which appear in this list were much 
later in date than Howel's time, and are probably later than 
the modifications introduced by Bleddyn in or about 1080. 
Perhaps we may trace them to David, son of Owain Gwynedd. 
Whatever may be their exact date, such articles as hauberks 
and basnets look like Norman innovations. It is of some 
interest to note that the Welsh had not lost their ancient art 
of enamelHng, for we find an ordinary shield valued at eight 
pence, but if it were enamelled blue or gold this value increased 
to twenty-four pence. 

Clothes were, as prices went in those days, rather expensive. 
A shirt and trousers were valued at twenty-four pence, and a 
royal robe at one pound, a noble's robe being priced somewhat 
less. No one else seems to have been allowed to wear a robe, 
but mantles were fairly common, any one who could afford the 
twenty-four pence necessary to pay for it being allowed to 
wear one. Caps were extraordinarily expensive, for a cap 
cost as much as a mantle. A bonnet, on the other hand, cost 
but one legal penny. Truly the times have altered ! 

Besides chattels, other things had a price set upon them. 
Thus every part of the human body was duly valued, so that 
in case of injury the person wronged should know exactly how 

121 



HISTORY OF WALES 

much to claim from the wrongdoer. A typical Welsh touch 
(for Welshmen were always great talkers) is found in the value 
assigned to the tongue, for we read that " The worth of the 
tongue itself is equal to the worth of all the other members, 
because it defends itself." 

From what we have already said it will be evident to the 
reader that the ancient laws of Wales contain some very 
curious and interesting rules. With the legal aspect of these 
laws we have not been concerned in this present chapter. In 
the chapter following, however, we shall consider some of the 
more important laws and customs of the Welsh. 



122 



CHAPTER VIII 
WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

IN the previous chapter we touched on certain parts of 
the Welsh laws which referred more particularly to 
the social condition of the Welsh. We propose now to 
consider in rather more detail such parts of these codes as 
may be of interest to the general reader. 

Although these laws are reputed to have been compiled by 
Howel Dha, the form in which we have them contains additions 
by subsequent princes. Thus Bleddyn, Prince of Powys, made 
extensive changes in the Venedotian Code toward the end of 
the eleventh century. We know, for instance, that he altered 
the amounts of land assigned to the persons entitled on the 
various divisions among heirs. He also remodelled the rules 
relating to the restitution to be made by a thief, requiring full 
satisfaction instead of the fines obtaining in the time of Howel. 

Gruffydd ap Cynan, a still later Prince of Gwynedd, also 
made some changes reforming the rules regulating bards and 
minstrels. His son, not improbably, made still further 
additions. 

Again, about the same time we find Rhys, Prince of 
Deheubarth, while making certain changes in the Welsh 
laws, falling into line with Henry II's judicial system. Owain 
Gwynedd carried the pro-Norman movement still farther. 
Welsh law continued, however, to be the law applicable in 
Wales until the time of Edward I. The Statute of Rhuddlan 
was then passed, which, while preserving certain Welsh 
characteristics, in effect brought Wales within the English 
system. Some of these peculiarities linger even yet, but most 
of them were abolished by the Welshman Henry VIII. 

123 



HISTORY OF WALES 

We must now turn back and remind the reader that we are 
concerned with Wales of the tenth century or earlier. The 
first group of laws with which we propose to deal are the rules 
relating to women. 

One of the things which strike one most forcibly when 
reading this part of the Welsh codes is, on the one hand, the 
fairness of the laws to women, and, on the other, the laxness 
of morals. The times were, of course, rough and rude, and 
the Welsh were certainly no worse as regards morals than 
the Norse. But it strikes one as strange to pass from a 
rubric full of good sense, good law, and enlightenment to a rule 
so coarse in intent and phrasing that a learned editor and 
translator of the codes found it desirable to clothe such passages 
in the I^atin tongue 

The Position of Women 

As we have said, the attitude of the Welsh to their women- 
kind was extremely fair. Perhaps this may have been due to 
a remembrance of the old matriarchal state, which Sir John 
Rhys thinks may have existed in very early times. However 
this may be, we find girls and boys and women and men equally 
treated, in the main. Until the young Cymraes was twelve 
years of age she was maintained by her father even as children 
are to-day. When she had attained that age she was deemed 
a woman, and her position was very different. She then 
became entitled to her share in the personal property of the 
kin. Her father was no longer bound to maintain her. As 
the Welsh laws put it, " Every woman is to go the way she 
willeth, freely, for she is not to be revenant ; and nothing is 
due from her except her maiden-fee." 

This mention of the maiden-fee refers to a fine which was 
payable to the chief man whenever a Cymraes became a woman 
in the fuller sense either by marriage or otherwise. So free 
was the young Cymraes that, having attained the age of 
twelve, she was free to give herself in marriage, in which case 
she had to pay the maiden-fee. In the normal case doubtless 
the father maintained his daughters for years after they 
124 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

attained supposed womanhood, and until marriage, in which 
case, if he gave his daughter away, he was liable to pay the 
maiden-fee. 

We have no very full account of the Welsh marriage. There 
seems to have been a difference between an ' espoused wife * 
and a ' wife.' Reading between the lines it would appear that 
the formal way to marry was by plight of faith together with 
a church ceremony. But any action showing intention to live 
together was sufficient to warrant the title ' wife.' The central 
fact was the taking home of the woman by the man — the 
deductio in domum of the Romans — together with cohabitation. 
Whether they practised the pretty customs with garlands and 
roses which the Romans used we do not know. 

The same freedom which was the woman's before marriage 
continued afterward. She could leave her husband at any 
time. He could leave her at any time. Subsequent marriage 
operated as a divorce. 

On a woman marrying she took certain property to her 
husband as dower. This dower was to be hers " unto the end 
of the seventh year, and if there be three nights wanting of 
the seventh year and they separate, let them share into two 
portions everything belonging to them." 

The rules relating to the sharing of the property are given 
very fully in the Venedotian Code (which we are at present 
relying upon). The law stated with great particularity what 
things were to go to the husband and what to the wife. Where 
the law did not apply the husband had first choice, but apart 
from that they shared equally. 

If they had sheep and goats the husband was given the 
sheep, the wife the goats. This was unfair to the wife, of 
course. The children were divided up in a similar manner — 
not into sheep and goats, but according to numbers and ages. 
The husband took two out of three. He had the oldest and 
the youngest. The wife took the middlemost. To the wife 
went all the milking-vessels except one pail, all the dishes 
except one dish ; the car and yoke to convey her furniture 
from the house. She also took the lower stone of the quern, 

125 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the husband having the upper stone. She had the bed- 
clothes over them, he the bedclothes under them, but if he 
married again these went to his earlier wife, unless he cared to 
pay a fine. The wife also took the pan, trivet, broad axe, 
hedge-bill, ploughshare, all the flax, the linseed, the wool, the 
money-bag with its copper contents (gold and silver were 
divided). The food-stuffs were divided. Of personal clothes 
they kept their own except mantles, which were to be shared. 
In another part of the Welsh laws we find a delightful distinc- 
tion made between a " town-made mantle " and " every home- 
made covering." The mantles were, as we have seen, regarded 
as valuable. As to the debts, each had to pay them in equal 
shares. 

To mention the various things allocated to the husband 
would be to draw out the list to a tedious length. Appro- 
priately enough he was to take all the drinking-vessels. He 
also took all the corn, all the poultry, and one of the cats. 
The cat held a very special place in the Welsh household. ^ 
When we turn to the Welsh law of sale we find a special 
warranty, in the case of the sale of the cat, against any pro- 
pensity to caterwauling. The cat was regarded as quite a 
valuable animal, and a number appear to have been kept in 
every Welsh household. 

On separation before the seventh year the wife also received 
back her dower (three pounds in the normal case), her parapher- 
nalia, and her cowyll (one pound in the case of the ordinary 
person), and all presents made to her before marriage. If the 
wife left her husband without good reason she could only 
claim her cowyll, but if her husband subsequently married, he 
had to pay her a sum of money. If the wife was, while yet 
living with her husband, guilty of lightness, even of covertly 
kissing another man, her husband could repudiate her and she 
forfeited all her property rights. A woman could leave her 
husband and still claim her property in full for three causes 

* This, we suspect, comes from their Semitic ancestors. The cat was, of 
course, sacred in Egypt, and mummified cats may be seen in the British 
Museum. 

126 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

only. Two we will pass over, the third, leprosy, reminds us 
of the ravages which that dreaded disease made throughout 
England and Wales in those times. We have many memorials 
of the extent of its hold . The leper- holes ^ in many old churches 
speak of it. The frequent mention of the disabilities of lepers 
to contract tell of it, and of the banishment of these unhappy 
folk from the haunts of men. It is to the honour of women 
that we can say that examples are known of women following 
their husbands into their dreadful retreats when hopeless 
victims of this scourge, rather than forsake them, as, by law, 
they were entitled to do. 

On the death of the husband we read that the wife was " to 
have everything in two portions " except the corn. This 
she had only if an ' espoused * wife. We understand by an 
' espoused ' wife one who was married in a formal way. When- 
ever a woman and a man lived together she obtained certain 
rights. If the cohabitation was of any duration she came to 
be looked upon as a wife. It may be remembered that the 
Romans made a similar distinction between materfamilias and 
uxor, though probably this has no connexion with the Welsh 
division. 

The husband could not defeat his wife's right of succession 
by leaving his property away from her. He could, however, 
bequeath the mortuary fees,^ and the fine payable to his lord, 
and money to pay all his debts. 

The Venedotian Code contains an interesting rule stating 
the three things for which a man might beat his wife. We 
will spare the reader mention of the first two. The third 
reason was giving anything away which she might not give. 
This introduces a long list of things which she might donate. 
The wife of a taeog, or villein, could give but few things. 
The laws only mention her headgear and the sieve. The sieve 
is frequently mentioned in the Welsh laws. It was one of 
the things specially given to the wife on separation, the 

^ It has been doubted whether many so-called leper-holes had anything to 
do with lepers. At least one Saxon bishop was a leper. 
2 por church rites, blessings, prayers, etc. 

127 



HISTORY OF WALES 

husband taking the riddle. The taeog's wife could only 
lend the sieve " as far as her voice can be heard . . . request- 
ing its return." The wife of a uchelwr, or chief, could, 
however, give away quite a number of things, and could lend 
all the furniture without legally being liable to be beaten. 

Before we pass from the law relating to women we must 
remind the reader that the woman with separate property 
of her own could buy and sell and make herself liable for her 
debts. If she were married she could not sell without the 
consent of her husband unless she was possessed of separate 
property. This, we take it, refers to the dower. The dower 
normally went to the husband and wife as goods in com- 
mon, so to say. The giver of the dower could, however, as 
we have seen, declare a separation of goods at the time of 
marriage, in which case we assume that the separated property 
would be deemed the wife's. 

There were elaborate rules relating to fines payable if a 
woman were insulted or disgraced. The fine was generally 
regulated according to the position of her husband, if she had 
one, otherwise according to that of her eldest brother. 

ANcifiNT Laws of Wales 

We hesitate to go into any detail with regard to legal rules 
and observances. lyaw is a dull subject to the general reader. 
Moreover, it is hopeless in the space at our disposal to make 
clear many legal rules to anyone unacquainted with the 
subject. We propose, however, to touch on one or two 
points which throw into prominence certain peculiarities of 
the average Welshman of that age. 

Everything could be paid for in money. That is the out- 
standing fact in early Welsh and Saxon law. From murder 
downward everything had its appropriate fine price, varying 
with the injury and the status of the injured. 

Law relating to Contract 

As regards the law relating to contract, the only part which 
has any living interest for the non-legal reader is that which 
128 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

contains the rules relating to buying and selling. Here again 
well-nigh everything had its appropriate price fixed. The 
part of the code now to be referred to is posterior to the time 
of Howel, but for our present purpose that is hardly material. 
We find in the Dimetian Code the price of a stallion fixed at 
one pound, a palfrey at a mark, a rouncy at 120 pence, a 
sumpter-horse at 80 pence, a draught mare at one cow, 
a brood mare at 120 pence. With these various values 
attached to horses it is interesting to compare the various 
mounts placed upon them by Chaucer in his Prologue to the 
Canterbury Tales. Thus, upon the palfrey rode that monk 
who was described as 

An outridere that lovede venerie ; 
A manly man, to been an abbot able. 

On the other hand, a rouncy was good enough for the ship- 
man, while upon a mare, as a thing of less worth, rode the 
plowman. 

Nearly every kind of movable was appraised. We find the 
price fixed for cows, oxen, calves, swine, sheep, goats, cats, 
fowls, dogs, hawks, bees, harts (whose value was that of an 
ox, a hind's value being that of a ' fair ' cow) , furs and skins, 
wood and trees, branches of trees, furniture, articles of hus- 
bandry, boots, clothing, saddlery, etc. These fixed prices are 
sometimes expressed as being the fine prices payable if the 
thing is injured or destroyed, and sometimes as the sale 
prices. 

Sales in those days were much more complicated affairs 
than they are to-day. They had to be held in specified 
places and before witnesses. If credit were given it was 
customary and necessary to give a surety or a pledge. On 
the sale of an animal the seller was treated as having war- 
ranted or guaranteed it against the diseases most common to 
that type of animal. Thus in the Dimetian Code we read : 
" Whoever shall sell a horse is to insure its dilysrwydd [title] 
until death ; and against the staggers, for three dew-falls ; 
against the strangles, for three moons ; against the farcy 

I 129 



HISTORY OF WALES 

[or glanders], a year; and, in addition, he is to insure it 
against any inward disorder." If these diseases or faults 
appeared within the limited time mentioned the horse, could 
be returned. On the other hand, if certain other defects 
appeared — e.g. if the horse turned out to be a restive animal — 
the seller had to return a third of the price to the buyer, but 
the buyer had to keep the horse, and could not return it and 
demand the whole of his money back. 

As we have seen, a cat had to be warranted free from a 
propensity to caterwauling. Swine were to be warranted 
against devouring their young. In all cases, if fraud were 
shown the bargain was off and the person misled could recover 
his money. 

We shall later have occasion to refer to the Irish slave 
traffic. Women and children were most commonly dealt in 
at these sales. As M. Stocquart has pointed out, the sale of 
wives in very early times was one of the most important 
kinds of traffic. It is probable that the women sold in 
Ireland were often bought as wives rather than as slaves. 
The people depended on captives taken in war for their 
slaves ; purchase would be an unnecessarily expensive way 
of getting them. The trade was not, of course, limited 
to Ireland. In the earliest Anglo-Saxon doom (early seventh 
century) there is an interesting passage which shows that 
the custom was common in England. It runs : " If a man 
buy a maiden with diseased cattle, let the bargain stand if it 
be without guile, but if there be guile let him bring her home 
again and let his property be restored to him." This must, 
in our opinion, refer to wife-purchase and not to slave-buy- 
ing. If the latter, the cynical modern mind regards such a 
doom as putting a premium on diseased cattle and guile ! 

Procedure 

In early societies we find almost universally a considerable 
amount of attention paid to the mode of obtaining obedience 
to law. Compared with the amount of substantive law, or 
law which has to be obeyed, the amount of adjective law, or 
130 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

law relating to the means which must be taken to secure 
obedience, is to-day quite small. In tenth-century Wales 
and England it was about half the total law. 

It must always be remembered that in those days we had 
not to deal with one ' peace,' the ' King's Peace,' extending 
throughout the country. The number of jurisdictions was 
almost unlimited. Even as at the time of the French Revolu- 
tion many nobles in France retained the old seigneurial rights 
of trying and hanging without being responsible to anyone, 
so in earlier times private jurisdictions extended throughout 
England and Wales. In very early times we believe that 
the tribal chief had jurisdiction over the tribe. When the 
social arrangements of the community were more advanced, 
so that we had the dual organization of tribe and embryonic 
state, with a chief at the head of the latter, it is probable 
that both tribe and state would have courts. Within times 
of which we know the history we have indirect references to 
courts of the tribe and to the lord's court. 

The centre of the system which was established to enforce 
the carrying out of contracts and the paying of debts — that is 
to say, law on the civil side — was the ' lord ' or chieftain. At 
each transaction witnesses or contract-men were present, and 
if credit was given sureties were demanded. These sureties 
were men who were pledged to see that the debtor paid. 
The contract- men acted as arbitrators in case of a dispute ; 
or, if arbitration failed, as witnesses if the action went to 
trial. 

Arbitration was, of course, extremely common in the early 
Middle Ages both in England and Wales. At a later date 
special days were set aside for the amicable settlement of 
disputes. These days, called dies amoris, or love-days, are 
frequently referred to by both I^angland and Chaucer.^ In 
later times the arbitrator was generally a priest, and it was this 
fact which eventually accounted for the decline of the system, 
the priests of later mediaeval England being notoriously 
ignorant and bribable. Even in Piers Plowman we find 
1 The practice was very much earlier than lyangland. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

lyangland speaking of the priest-arbitrator in ho very glowing 
terms. Thus he makes his priest say : 

I can hold lovedayes and here a reve's rekenynge. 
And in cannon or in decretals I cannot read a Hne. 

Arbitration was possibly even more common in Wales than 
in England, and was evidently a practice of great antiquity. 

If arbitration came to nothing, and the debtor failed to pay, 
then the surety had to bring him before the court, and the 
contract-men had to be prepared to give evidence of what 
they heard and saw. An account of what took place in court 
would, we fear, prove dull to the general reader. It consisted 
in the main of affirmatory oaths on the one hand, and acknow- 
ledgment, or oaths in denial, on the other. These oaths 
were taken on a haligdom with the Saxons — that is to say, 
some holy thing, generally a Bible. With the Welsh it was 
the same : some holy relic, generally a Bible, would be used, 
or on serious and solemn occasions possibly the bones of a 
saint.^ 

As we have said, the duty of a surety was to bring the 
debtor to justice. If the debtor failed to pay, the surety was 
liable and had to pay, or give a pledge, unless the debtor 
denied his surety. The form of denial or acknowledgment is 
given in vivid phraseology in the Welsh codes, so that we feel 
justified in reproducing the translation of Aneurin Owen. It 
runs as follows : 

"If he [the debtor] willeth to deny, a surety is to be thus 
denied : let the two parties, and the surety, come before the 
judge ; and the judge is to seek from both parties an acknow- 
ledgment whether ' Yonder man be a surety, or not a surety ? ' 
' A surety, God knows,' says the creditor : ' Not a surety, 
God knows,* says the debtor. Then it is right for the judge to 
ask the surety : ' Art thou a surety ? ' 'I am,' replies the 
surety. ' It is wholly denied,' says the debtor : ' thou art 
not surety for me ; neither for that [the debt in question], nor 

1 Giraldus tells us that they held many things, such as portable beUs, 
staves crooked at the top and covered with gold, silver, or brass, and similar 
rehcs of the saints, in more veneration than the Gospels. 

132 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

for anything.' ' God knows/ says the surety, ' in the best 
manner a surety is to insist that he is a surety, do I insist on 
my being surety.' ' God knows,' says the debtor, ' in the 
best manner a debtor is to deny surety, I will deny it.' Then 
it is right for the judge to ascertain in what manner he is to 
deny it. Now the law in this case provides, since there is 
only his own evidence in the matter prosecuting it, there is to 
be only the evidence of the debtor to deny it. ' Yes,' says 
the debtor, ' I will deny him.' Then it is right for the judge 
to take the relic in his hand, and say to the debtor : ' The 
protection of God prevent thee ! and the protection of the 
Pope of Rome ! and the protection of thy lord ! do not take 
a false oath.' " 

This swearing on a relic was regarded as a very awful test. 
In Alfred's dooms we have words which suggest that a man 
might prefer to go to the triple ordeal rather than risk a false 
oath on a haligdom. 

If the debtor in the above-mentioned case persisted and 
swore on the relic and the surety did not, the debtor was free. 
If the surety counter-swore on the relic the debtor had to 
bring forward seven compurgators to swear to his innocence. 
The denial of the oath had to take place in church between 
the Benedicamus and the distributing of sacramental bread. 
If the debtor were proved unable to clear himself he had to 
pay the claim and was liable to be charged with perjury. 

The surety, as we have said, had to obtain satisfaction for 
the creditor. One way of so doing was to get the debtor 
before the court so that the creditor could get judgment. 
Another way was to give the creditor a pledge belonging to 
the debtor. Thus, supposing the debtor owed twelve pence, 
the surety and the creditor called at his house and required 
payment. If it were not forthcoming they seized some 
property which was worth about twelve pence, and retained 
it unless the debt was paid. If it were left too long unpaid 
the creditor could realize. A difficulty, however, arose if 
the debtor had nothing about the value which was seizable. 
Thus we read in the Welsh laws that the debtor might be able 

133 



HISTORY OF WALES 

to say, " I have not wherewith to pay you, except my horse ; 
and that I will neither give to you nor pledge." In that case 
we are informed " the surety is not to take the pledge from 
him ; and the creditor is not to take the pledge of the surety : 
but both parties are to proceed to the lord, and declare to 
him : ' There is yonder only a great matter : and a great 
matter is not to be taken in pledge for a small matter.' " The 
lord was then empowered to give the necessary authority for 
the seizing of the horse. 

We find that the Welsh never permitted agency. As we 
have seen, a woman could contract ; so could a taeog to a limited 
extent, but there were three things which he could not sell 
without his lord's permission — a stallion, honey, and swine — 
just as there were three professions or arts which he might 
not learn save with his lord's consent — scholarship, smithcraft, 
and bardism. It was obviously desirable to prevent the villeins 
learning the art of the smithy, since it was the smiths who 
made all the armour ^ and weapons of war. The exclusion 
from learning is also understandable. It is always desirable 
to keep in ignorance those whom you desire to repress. 

We can find no reference in the Welsh laws to the quaint 
rule in the Cain Lanamhna (Ireland) that a wife could set 
aside her husband's foolish bargains, but we do find mention 
made of the similar rule (also found in the Cam Lanamhna) 
that a son could set aside such contracts. 

Law relating to Crime 

Of the early criminal law of Wales we propose to say very 
little. All forms of crime could be paid for. Murder, or its 
equivalent, was a term used to describe the killing of a tribes- 
man or countryman. To kill a stranger was in early times 
regarded as rather meritorious — unless the said stranger 
happened to be somebody else's slave, in which case com- 
pensation had to be made as though the slayer had broken a 
chair or any other possession belonging to a countryman. 

In the case of the murder of a tribesman or countryman in 
^ The Welsh never wore much armour. 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

early times in Wales we have no doubt that the blood-feud 
was common. The murdered man's family commenced a 
war of extermination on the family of the murderer, who, of 
course, retaliated. The lex talionis must have resulted in an 
immense number of deaths, so that it must soon have been 
decided to substitute some other system for the blood-feud. 
The pressure of outside enemies, of hostile tribes, must have 
made such internecine strife quite intolerable. We therefore 
find quite early the substitution of blood-money for the blood- 
feud. This murder-price was called by the Welsh galanas, 
and was generally three times the saraad, or insult price. The 
galanas varied enormously according to the status of the 
person murdered, from the king, whose galanas was treble his 
saraad (see p. no), to a pencenedl (the head of a family), whose 
life-price was 189 cows, to a commoner, who was valued at 
sixty-three cows, and finally to a caeth (or slave) " of the 
island," whose life-price was but four cows. A woman's 
galanas was half that of a man, so that a female slave could 
be murdered for the price of two cows ! 

The galanas had to be paid, of course, by the kin of the 
murderer. Failure to pay even to the last penny resulted in 
the murderer's life being forfeited. The method of collection 
deserves mention. The murderer, accompanied by a servant 
of the lord of the district, set out in search of relatives, taking 
with him some holy relic. Whenever he met a person not 
known to be related to him within the seventh degree he 
demanded of him whether he was descended from any of the 
four kindreds from which he (the murderer) was descended. 
The stranger had to answer on oath, swearing on the relic. If 
he took an oath in denial he was exempt. If he admitted 
relationship, no oath was necessary, of course — ^he simply had 
to contribute his share of the life-price. 

If a man slew an immediate kinsman the position was 
rather different. No galanas appears to have been payable, 
but the murderer forfeited his kinship. He became kin- 
wrecked — an outcast from his tribe. He was driven to the sea 
with the accompaniment of angry cries and the barking of 

135 



HISTORY OF WALES 

dogs. There he was put on board ship, and his one-time 
kinsmen wrathfully watched him until he was completely 
out of sight, and for many hours afterward, lest he should 
return. 

The Rules relating to Fire 

There is but one other branch of the law which we pro- 
pose to mention. The Welsh rules relating to fire {tan) are 
sufficiently curious to be worth describing. 

As Giraldus tells us, the Welsh were great fire-users. They 
were in the habit of keeping their hearth fires burning both 
night and day, and, as he says, if in the course of the night the 
occupants of the house found it chilly they left their hard 
couches — often the ground — and stirred the dying embers into 
a generous blaze. When we remember that the Welsh house 
was in almost all cases made of wood thatched with straw 
it can readily be understood that their lawgivers were forced 
to make rules which would guard against the wholesale burning 
of villages and towns. We find, indeed, that this question of 
fire is very fully dealt with in the codes. Fire itself is always 
treated as a tangible thing of a dangerous nature which, in 
the modern English law phrase, must be kept in at the 
possessor's peril. 

In view of this objective treatment of fire it is not surprising 
that we read of people lending and borrowing it, stealing it, 
carrying it away, and having it given ! If a person gave fire 
away and it did damage the donor was liable to the extent of 
one-third in certain cases, but if the fire were lent the lender 
was not liable, apparently. If a person burnt his house 
and that house burnt another, and so on, each householder 
appears to have been liable to the next householder, but no 
farther.^ 

Apart from uncontrollable fires, there were only three kinds 
of fire for which no indemnity had to be made. These were 
fires resulting from the burning of heath in March, the fire of 

^ The text is ambiguous, but the above appears to be its meaning. The 
fire might be regarded as ' imcontrollable,' in which case no one was liable. 

136 




PtATE XXVII. St. Winifred's (or Wenefrede's) Wei,l 
Photo Lettsome & Sons, Llangollen 



136 



WELSH LAWS AND CUSTOMS 

a smithy in a hamlet, and the fire of a bath in a hamlet. But 
for the smithy and bath-owner to be free from liability it was 
necessary that these two centres of danger should be seven 
fathoms distant from the nearest house, and the smithy had to 
be covered with shingles or tiles or sods, and not with thatch. 
This mention of the bath, which was obviously heated, is 
interesting, but it is doubtful of what nature these Welsh 
baths were. It may be that a rough type of Roman bath 
continued in use. 

Not only was fire regarded as a definite object — ^it was 
treated as a thing which could act, just like an animal. Thus 
we read that " If swine enter a house and scatter the fire 
about so as to burn the house, and the swine escape, let the 
owner of the swine pay for their act. If the swine be burned, 
it is an equation between them ; as being two irrational 
things ; and, therefore, where there is an equation, by law, 
there is to be nothing redressed, but one is to be set against 
another." And again : " If a person, in carrying fire from 
the house of another, should occasion sparks to fly about, let 
him pay for his act ; unless he can impute part of it to the 
fire." 

As we shall see in the chapters which follow, the Welsh well 
knew how to use fire as an instrimient of offence. Many a 
tribal leader was burnt out of his stronghold, and in later 
times many a Norman baron had to choose between being 
burnt to death or crushed by the falling walls of his blazing 
castle — which was often constructed mainly of wood — and 
attempting to cut through an encircling line of enemies, who 
rarely allowed him to escape unless themselves overpowered 
by numbers. 

From this short account of Welsh laws and customs we 
must now turn to a further consideration of the political 
history of early Wales. Throughout the centuries immediately 
following, and perhaps we may say until the time of Giraldus, 
who flourished in the twelfth century, the Welsh mode of 
living altered very little. Throughout these centuries they 
were a hardy, warlike, energetic people, ever ready to leave 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the plough to take up the sword, prepared to abandon their 
little homesteads for a time in order to retreat before a too 
powerful enemy, driving their flocks and herds before them and 
leaving nothing on which the invader could seize or subsist. 
Born fighters, mobile, excellent with the bow and dart, they 
lived for war, and it is of war that the succeeding chapters 
mainly treat. 



138 



CHAPTER IX 
THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

FROM THE DEATH OP CADWALADR TO THE) ACCESSION OF 
GRUFFYDD AP I^I^YWELYN 

(68ii?-io23) 

IT is perhaps inelegant to divide a period of history 
according to the deaths of its heroes rather than the 
accession of its princes, but the name of the prince who 
is mentioned in the Brut y Tywysogion as succeeding Cad- 
waladr is hardly known to students of history. On the other 
hand, the accession of Gruffydd ap I^lywelyn marks a new 
phase in this history, and consequently forms a convenient 
point at which to terminate a chapter. Again, it is desirable 
to distinguish clearly between the period of the kings of 
Britain (kings though they were only in name) and that of the 
princes. We have consequently found it desirable to date this 
present chapter from the death of Cadwaladr, for with that 
event, as we have seen, " thenceforth the Britons lost the crown 
of the kingdom, and the Saxons gained it." We need not 
criticize too closely this statement in the Chronicles of the 
Princes, although doubtless the reader will agree that it is from 
the battle of Winwaed (655) that we should count the final 
overthrow of the pretensions of the British kings, which had for 
some few years, under the leadership of Cadwallawn, appeared 
so bright. 

The history of this present period is by no means easy to 
write. Our authorities are extremely few. As Stephens has 

1 The learned authors of The Welsh People have pointed out that the Welsh 
chroniclers confounded Cadwaladr with Ceadwalla of Wessex, who died in 
689 ; they believe Cadwaladr died about 664. See also p. 99. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

pointed out, there is no reference in the writings of the bards 
or poets to any historical events during the centuries which 
separate the incidents which commence and terminate this 
chapter. Our most important authority is the Chronicles of 
the Princes, which, however, is extremely sparse in its facts 
until we reach the eleventh century. This work, which in the 
earliest manuscript form known to us dates from the first half 
of the fourteenth century, and which was written not improb- 
ably at the monasteries of Strata Florida and Conway, is 
peculiarly bare and dry in its facts, at least for these centuries. 
I/ater, when we come to consider the struggles between the 
Norman marchers and the Welsh princes, we find in it a com- 
prehensive, interesting, and probably accurate account of those 
troublous times. When it is recounting the events of the eighth 
century it is very different. Frequently we find ten years or 
so passed by either without comment of any sort or with a 
mere reference to the fact that in such and such a year there 
was a hot summer {e.g. in 720) , or an earthquake in Armorica — 
facts which really have neither interest nor value at the present 
time. The Annates Camhriae is but little, if any, more helpful. 
Sandwiched in between lengthy periods of which we know 
nothing we find the most unimportant events recorded We 
read of comets, and of how in 690 the moon was a blood-red 
colour ; that in 684 there was an earthquake, and in 808 and 
810 an eclipse of the sun and moon respectively ; ^ but of actual 
doings of men, whether kings or princes, philosophers or 
poets, we know but little. The student of early English history 
has doubtless observed the same flaws in the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle ; but the historian who would write the history of 
England has at his disposal a wealth of legal manuscripts, 
charters, and grants, unequalled, we believe, for the period 
with regard to any nation in Europe. Wales has handed down 
to us no such rich legacy. The meagreness of the accounts of 
the early chroniclers of Wales is doubtless due to the fact that 

* The reason for the recounting of these natural phenomena is given 
us by Roger of Wendover, who says that they may lead men to see how 
Providence punishes evildoers ! 

140 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

tliey were attempting to make bricks without straw. The 
modern writer, or at any rate the present writer, feels that the 
straws have not increased considerably with the passing of 
the centuries. 

It is a matter for surprise that the Welsh chroniclers found 
themselves unable to furnish a more detailed account of the 
early history of their country. We have already remarked 
that it was one of the three chief duties of the bards to record 
meritorious events in song. These bards must have so 
recorded many events now forgotten and unknown. That 
these songs were unwritten is probable, but that alone does 
not account for their complete disappearance from memory. 
As Macpherson, the learned translator and editor of the poems 
of Ossian, said many years ago, when speaking of the bards 
(primarily, it is true, of the Gaelic bards, of whom Ossian was 
perhaps the greatest), " The use of letters was not known till 
long after the institution of the bards : the records of the 
families of their patrons, their own, and more ancient poems, 
were handed down by tradition. Their poetical compositions 
were admirably combined for that purpose. They were 
adapted to music ; and the most perfect harmony was 
observed. Bach verse was so connected with those which 
preceded or followed it, that if one line had been remembered 
in a stanza, it was almost impossible to forget the rest. The 
cadences followed in so natural a gradation, and the words 
were so adapted to the common turn of the voice, after it is 
raised to a certain key, that it was almost impossible, from a 
similarity of sound, to substitute one word for another. This 
excellence is peculiar to the Celtic tongue, and is perhaps to 
be met with in no other language." Whether the above is 
applicable to the language of the Cymric bards of the ninth 
century equally with that of the Gaelic poets of Ireland and 
Scotland we are not prepared to say, but we may remind the 
reader that the early history of many nations is known to us 
only, or chiefly, through the songs of its singers. Garcilaso 
wrote the history of the Incas of Peru long after the Peruvians 
had lost all records of their history. His facts were gleaned 

141 



HISTORY OF WALES 

almost entirely from the poems whicli his mother, an Inca 
princess, taught him in his youth. 

With these facts in our minds, and remembering the unusual 
prominence which was given to the bard and poet in Cymru, 
it is indeed strange that our materials are so sparse — and not 
only sparse, but dull. This state of the authorities seems to 
point to a decided decline in bardism ; yet that cannot explain 
it, for in the laws of Howel (composed, not improbably, in the 
tenth century, at least as regards the part relating to the 
king's household) we find the bards apparently as numerous 
and as honourably placed as at any time in Welsh history. 

The absence of ordinary historical evidence for the period is 
made all the more startling by the fact that Howel's laws, in 
part if not all, date from this time. That is to say, we have at 
once one of the most complete accounts of the laws of Cymru 
of that time with an almost complete absence of knowledge 
of the great contemporary historical events. Perhaps the 
truth is that the Welsh were not making history during these 
centuries ; that even if the wit of their poets enabled them to 
make epics out of the petty squabbles of their princes, the 
works so constructed of such bare material interested but 
two people — the prince applauded and the poet who praised — ■ 
and that consequently these songs founded no tradition, 
passed, indeed, into the limbo of forgotten things with the 
passing of the bard and his master. However this may be, we 
must now endeavour to roof the palace of a prince with straw 
insufficient to thatch the cottage of a taeog. 

Ivor and Rhodri Molwynog 

After the death of Cadwaladr we are told that " Ivor, son 
of Alan, King of Armorica, which is called I^ittle Britain, 
reigned ; not as a king, but as chief or prince." This 
Armorica is, of course, another name for Brittany. Whether 
we can accept this story of a chief ruling the Cymry who had 
come from Brittany is uncertain. The Cymric tribal system 
is against it. On the other hand, it is known that during 
the Anglo-Saxon invasion many British refugees had fled to 
142 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

Armorica, and it is obvious that all through the early centuries 
of our era a very close connexion existed between the Brythons 
of Brittany and Britain. 

The king or prince who reigned after Ivor was a person of 
whom we know rather more. This prince, Rhodri Molwynog, 
was a contemporary of Aethelbald, king of Mercia. Aethel- 
bald commenced to reign in a.d. 716. The date of Rhodri's 
accession was probably about 720, and, according to the 
Brut y Tywysogion, he was fighting in Cornwall and South 
Wales (presumably against the Saxons) in 721. The Annates 
assigns the year 722 to these actions. His death took 
place in 754. It is therefore fairly clear that this Rhodri — 
who must be kept clearly distinct from the later and more 
famous Rhodri Mawr (Roderick the Great) — was a prince who 
reigned in Wales for about thirty years. During these years 
it is not improbable that the Cymry were waging war against 
the Mercians. It was not, however, until the death of Rhodri 
and Aethelbald and the accession of Offa that the Mercian 
campaign against the Cymry comes into prominence. During 
Rhodri's reign we read of battles between the Picts and Britons. 
These are mentioned in both the Annates Camhriae and in the 
Brut. The latter gives the name of a battle fought at Maesydog 
between the Picts and the Britons, in which the Britons were 
apparently victorious and killed Talargan, king of the Picts. 
This may perhaps have a connexion with the Pictish cam- 
paign undertaken by Eadbert of Northumbria about this 
time. Possibly it refers to the terrible disaster which was 
inflicted on the combined Pictish and Saxon army by the 
Britons of Strathclyde during the former's march through 
Perthshire. The date of this British victory as given in the 
Brut, however, was 750, and Eadbert's defeat occurred in 
756, two years after Rhodri's death. 

Rhodri Molwynog was less fortunate in his successors than 
was Aethelbald. The Mercian left his country, growing rapidly 
in power, to a ruler bold, ambitious, and able. Offa of Mercia 
was, in fact, for many years the chief power in Britain, so that 
we find Pope Hadrian I in an epistle to Charlemagne referring 

H3 



HISTORY OF WALES 

to him as rex Anglorum (which, however, cannot be translated 
as ' king of the BngHsh,' but rather as ' king of the Angles ' 
— a lesser title in view of the fact that Mercia was essentially 
an Angle settlement). Wales, on the other hand, appears to 
have been divided between the two sons of Rhodri, Conan 
and Howel by name. 

Conan and Howel 

These two princes chose to fight against one another rather 
than to unite against the common enemy. As a result we 
find the Mercian pushing the border of Cymru from the line 
of the Severn almost to the Wye. Apart from the time when 
Wulfhere was king of Mercia, all this fertile land had until 
now been part of Cymru. The struggle for this much-dis- 
puted territory does not, however, end with Offa. I^ater, 
as we shall see, many border fights were fought against the 
Norman barons before the counties of Shropshire and Hereford 
were finally relinquished by their one-time owners, the Welsh. 

Some twenty-two years after the death of Rhodri we read 
of the " destruction " of the men of South Wales (Deheubarth) 
by Offa, and again in 780 or 784 we find Offa " spoiling the 
Britons in the summer-time." ^ The Chronicles of the Princes 
would have us believe that the Welsh also devastated the 
territory of Offa in the summer-time, and that it was as a 
result of this raid that Offa caused the dike to be dug which 
has been associated with his name ever since. This earthwork, 
we are told, extended " from one sea to the other, from the 
south, near Bristol, to the north, above FUnt, between the 
monastery of Basingwerk and Coleshill." It consisted of an 
earthen rampart flanked by a ditch, extended for some 

^ The Gwentian Brut as quoted in the Victoria History of Hereford, p. 259, 
contains the following entries : " In 765, the Cymry devastated Mercia, and 
thereupon Offa made a greater Dike, called Offa's Dike, to divide Wales from 
Mercia." " In 776, the men of Gwent and Glamorgan entered Mercia and 
razed Oflfa's Dike level with the groimd." " In 784, Offa made a Dike a 
second time, nearer to himself, leaving a piece of country between Wye and 
Severn where is the tribe of Elystan Glodrydd." As the learned writer in 
the Victoria History suggests, this probably accounts for the two sets of 
earthworks noticeable between Kennel Wood and Shoals Bank. 

144 




Pirate XXVIII. Offa's Dike 

Showing Fosse on left 
Photo Lettsome cS- Sons, Llangollen 



144 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

130 miles from and to the places where the Dee and the Wye 
run into the sea. Of it Dr. Hodgkin says : " Though we 
are distinctly told, on good authority, that the object of 
this huge work was a military defence, it is probable that, 
like the Vallum in Northumberland and the Pfahlgraben in 
Germany, it was also a geographical boundary, and served 
a useful purpose in time of peace, as marking the limit of two 
rival jurisdictions and clearly indicating to which of them 
pertained the duty of punishing robbery or murder committed 
on either side of the border." This dike, continues Dr. 
Hodgkin, probably commemorates the result of the " devasta- 
tion of the southern Britons wrought by Offa which is noted 
by the Cambrian annals under the years 778 and 784." As to 
this we must add that the Chronicles of the Princes makes it 
doubtful whether this was the reason for the digging of the dike 
The two accounts do not quite tally in their facts or dates. 

There is another dike which is found by the side of Offa's 
Dike through part of its length. Wat's Dike, as this second 
one is called, is believed to date from about the same period. 
Its purpose and origin are unknown. 

During all these troublous times Conan and Howel appear 
to have been disputing as to the possession of Mon. The 
whole account of this period is, however, very unsatisfactory. 
In the first place, we have no reason to think that Rhodri 
Molwynog was king of the whole of Wales. It must always 
be borne in mind that there were at this period in Cymru 
many divisions of territory, all of which were at one time or 
another described as ' kingdoms.' Thus Gwynedd, Powys, 
Ceredigion, Demetia, Djrfed, Morgannwg, Gwent, Brycheiniog, 
Buellt, Ystrad Tywi, Rhirfoniog, Cydweli, Gwyr, Mon, and 
later Deheubarth were all accounted kingdoms. Rhodri was 
not improbably king of North Wales, including Gwynedd and 
Mon.^ In the second place, the dates are very doubtful. 
According to the early Welsh historian Caradog of lylancarvan, 
Conan is represented as succeeding Rhodri in 750 and reigning 

1 It may be that he ruled only over Mon. The territorial divisions of 
Wales in the eighth and ninth centuries are very confused. 

K 145 



HISTORY OF WALES 

until 817, in which year he died, after expelling his brother, 
Howel, from Mon. The Chronicles of the Princes, on the 
other hand, makes no mention of Conan (Kynan) until 
812, when we find him fighting against his brother Howel. 
From that date until 817, when Gonan died, the brothers seem 
to have occupied themselves with driving each other out of 
Mon in turn. 

During all the years which elapse between the death of 
Rhodri (c. 754) and the first mention of Conan in the 
Chronicles of the Princes it does not appear that the men of 
North Wales had any outstanding leaders, although we read 
of a certain Caradog, king of Gwynedd, being killed by the 
Saxons in 798. Of the leaders of the Powysians — who suffered 
most heavily by the alteration of the border-line between 
Mercia and Wales — ^we know nothing. Of the history of 
South Wales we know but little more. As we have already 
said, it was mainly against the men of South Wales that the 
Mercian attack appears to have been launched. In 796 we 
read of the death of Morgatrud, king of the Demetiae, 

With the death of Conan in 817 two new enemies appear. 
In that year we find the Saxons ravaging the country and 
seizingTthe kingdom of Rhufoniog, and from the sea appear 
for the first time the ' black pagans ' who were destined in 
the future to cause so much misery, not only to Wales, but to 
England and Ireland as well. 

Merfyn Frych 

Conan left as heiress to his distracted kingdom a daughter. 
This daughter, Bsyllht, was either the mother or the wife of 
Merfyn Frych, Conan's successor. The relationship between 
this prince and his predecessor is somewhat difficult to deter- 
mine with accuracy. In the earlier manuscripts he appears 
to have been the son of Bsyllht vz Conan, in the later authorities 
she is named as his wife. It seems clear that he succeeded to 
the realm in consequence of Bsyllht's title thereto. This 
would point to the relationship being that of mother and 
son, since the Welsh law of succession, though it sometimes 
146 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

recognizes succession through a mother, never allows a claim 
through a wife. This, however, is by no means conclusive, 
since it appears that his subjects regarded his title to the 
throne as very defective. At least his reign was nicknamed 
' Injustice,' probably in reference to the fact that they looked 
upon his seizure of the crown as contrary to law and justice. 

Mr. Nicholson has perhaps solved the difficulty by his 
suggestion that the many early Welsh genealogies are not in 
all cases tables of descent, but of succession. The passage 
which would make Merfyn the son of Bsyllht runs as follows : 
map Rotri mermin map Etthil merch cinnan. Mr. Nicholson has 
shown that the tendency of the scribe who copied out the 
earlier tables into the form we now possess was in the habit of 
substituting map (son) for guor (over or before), and he would 
replace the above corrupted text by the following : guor Rotri 
mermin gur [not guor] Etthil merch cinnan = " before Rhodri, 
Merfyn — ^husband [= gur, which the scribe read guor and 
replaced by map, as usual] of Ksyllht the daughter of Conan." 
If this very ingenious argument is sound we must regard 
Merfyn as Ksyllht's husband rather than her son. 

Merfyn Frych would appear to have come originally from 
the Isle of Man. The bards have at least informed us that he 
came from the land of Manaw. This may mean either the 
Isle of Man or Manaw in Scotland. In determining which of 
these two places gave him to Wales we are at once helped and 
perplexed by his ancestry. We are told on the one hand that 
he was a descendant of I^lywarch H^n, the poet who suffered 
so grievously in the sack of Viroconium, and who was a Prince 
of Strathclyde. This, of course, points to a Scottish or Cum- 
brian origin. On the other hand, his father was one called 
Gwriad, and within recent years a ninth-century inscription 
has been unearthed in the Isle of Man bearing the words 
Crux Guriat (' The Cross of Gwriad'). This is strong evidence 
that he came from the little island in the Irish Sea. Again, 
when we read ' Manaw ' in early documents it means prima 
facie the Isle of Man. We will therefore regard Merfyn as 
a native of that island. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Merfyn's reign lasted until 844, and very few events took 
place during it of which we have any knowledge. In 823 he 
appears to have been at war with the Saxons, who, we read, 
destroyed the castle of Deganwy (the ancient seat of the house 
of Cunedda). This campaign was probably directed mainly 
against Powys, and may have been one of Egbert's onslaughts, 
although Egbert would appear to have led his army against 
Powys in 830 and not in 823. Another fact of great significance 
is mentioned in the chronicles of this period — ^the appearance 
of the ' black pagans/ 

It was with these ' black pagans ' (Norsemen and Danes ^) that 
the Angles, Saxons, and Welsh were to wage bitter war through- 
out the remaining years of the ninth century. The great 
champion of the Anglo-Saxon race during the most critical 
years of the second phase of that struggle was Alfred ; of the 
Welsh, Rhodri. Both, in consequence, probably, of the 
energy with which they beat back the new enemy, earned 
the title of ' the Great.' Alfred, it is true, won this title in 
many ways. A great soldier, an enlightened monarch, a 
renowned lawgiver, and a beneficent patron of the arts and 
of all learning, he is undoubtedly the outstanding figure of 
pre-Norman England. His wise men came from many parts, 
his energies sent men on missions of inquiry to many lands. 
We even read, in a tenth-century work, of his sending a 
medical mission to Helias. Patriarch of Jerusalem, for some 
good recipes. In truth Alfred was in many ways a great man 
and was far in advance of his time, 

Rhodri Mawr 

Rhodri Mawr's title to greatness is rather to be traced to 
the extent of his territories and his worth as a soldier. Yet 
even so limited he was undoubtedly one of the most famous 
of the descendants of Cunedda. 

If we accept Mr. Nicholson's account of the genealogy of 
Merfyn Frych, we must regard Rhodri as the son of Merfyn 
and his wife Esyllht and grandson of Nest, Princess of Powys. 

1 The Danes are generally referred to as 'white pagans.' 
148 




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THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

His wife was Angharad vz Meurig ap Dyfnwallon, whose 
brother ruled over Seisyllwg. 

These relationships are in this particular case of some 
importance, since Rhodri, in virtue of his right of succession to 
his grandmother, mother, and (presumably) wife, claimed nearly 
the whole of Wales as his kingdom, and thus for a few years 
was able to make the Cymry true countrymen. Thus united, 
we find them beating back the Danes with apparent success. 

As we have seen, Rhodri obtained the kingdom of Gwynedd 
on the death of Merfyn Frych in 844. Powys became his on 
the death of Cyngen, last of the royal house of the central 
kingdom, who died while on a pilgrimage to Rome in 855. 
Seisyllwg, the kingdom made from the conjunction of Ceredigion 
and Ystrad Tywi, probably fell under his sway much later. 
We find Gwgon ruling over Ceredigion until 872, when he was 
drowned. Gwgon was the brother of Angharad, Rhodri's 
wife, and the time of his death probably synchronizes with 
Rhodri's acquisition of that part of Wales. Rhodri was now 
king of the whole of Wales, save only Dyfed and Gwent and 
certain other minor parts. 

Before Rhodri obtained control over Powys, and while yet 
Cyngen was ruling over that kingdom, the Mercians — who 
were the continual enemies of Wales, and had already, as we 
have seen, made incursions into Powys in 823 or 830 under 
Egbert of Wessex — ^renewed the attack. This was in 853, 
when Aethelwulf was king of Wessex. Burhred was then king 
of Mercia, and we find him in that year appealing to his over- 
lord Aethelwulf for help against the men of North Wales. 
Aethelwulf responded, and the combined expedition was, 
apparently, successful. It is not clear against whom this 
campaign was directed, but it would seem probable that 
already at this time Rhodri was controlling Powys — at that 
time not improbably neglected by its pilgrim-king. The 
" men of North Wales " looks like Rhodri's men, and Rhodri 
was the only leader in Wales who was at that time powerful 
enough to make it necessary for the king of Mercia to call in 
to his aid the West Saxons. 

149 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Mercia was, of course, at this time a much weaker state 
than in the time of Offa. So too was Wessex. The reason 
for the weakness of the West Saxon kingdom was connected 
with the cause of Rhodri's strength. There is good reason to 
beHeve that the Dane was aheady proving a much greater 
enemy to the Saxons than to the Welsh. It became necessary 
for both Wessex and Mercia to husband their resources in 
order to cope with the new danger. The consequence was 
that the Welsh border knew comparative peace. It will be 
remembered, perhaps, that under date 855 the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle contains the significant entry, " In this year heathen 
men first remained over winter in Sheppey." That marks the 
end of the period of mere plunder and the commencement of 
the period of Danish settlement. Henceforward the Saxon 
kings of England had little time to give to any attempted 
conquest or annoyance or plunder of Wales. 

The 'Black Pagans' 

' It will doubtless be present to the mind of the reader that 
the Danes settled extensively in England between 855 and 
896, and conquered England in 1016, when Cnut became king. 
It was while England was still largely peopled by Danes that 
the Norman Conquest occurred. It is therefore obvious that 
the Danish invasion introduced a new race into England, 
whose customs and racial characteristics have doubtless had 
considerable influence upon English history. It was, however, 
different in the case of Wales. To a great extent the Danes 
came to Wales, not to settle or to conquer, but to plunder. 
Plunder they doubtless did. The consequent loss was, for 
the moment, considerable, but such excursions had no great 
national effect. 

It is, however, quite obvious that the Danes did settle to 
some extent in Wales. One cannot explain the Danish and 
Norse place-names found around the coast of Wales on the 
plunder theory simply. A town was not likely to call itself by 
a Norse name because it had been sacked by the * black 
pagans ' or because a neighbouring monastery had been 
150 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRIN^CES 

robbed of its plate. Yet we find such names as Grasholm 
instead of the older Gwales ; Fishguard for Abergwaun ; 
Cymric Mon becomes Danish Anglesey. Priestholm and 
Swansea obviously owe their name to the same race. All 
these places are either islands or coast towns. In the interior 
no Danish place-names are to be found. The inference is that 
the Danes settled in a few ports and islands, but for the main 
contented themselves with plundering the neighbouring Welsh 
tribes. 

We know most, perhaps, of the occupation of Anglesey. 
The name of this island is curious. At first sight it would 
appear to mean ' the island of the Angles ' — ^just as Chelsea 
means ' the island of the chisels.' William of Malmesbury, 
indeed, suggested that this was its meaning, and regarded 
Badwine's conquest of it as being the cause of its new name. 
This would be some time after 617. This derivation has the 
support of some eminent historians, but within recent years it 
has been suggested that the name is Norse and means ' the 
island on the fiord,' from ongull, a fiord. The word Ongulsey 
is found in the Orkneyinga Saga, and this derivation has the 
added advantage of explaining why Anglesey is referred to as 
Mon, quite universally, long after Badwine of Deira was dead. 
Mon, indeed, is always the name for Anglesey in the Welsh 
sources. 

It would seem that the 'black pagans' first swept down upon 
Anglesey in 853. The loss of this part of Cymru would have 
been a serious blow to the house of Gwynedd. Aberffraw, 
their ancestral seat, was situated in the island. The royal 
demesne lands were there. Anglesey was at that time the 
garden of Wales. Fertile and populous, it bore a very different 
aspect then from its present one. In 853 the attack seems to 
have been a sudden one for the purpose of plunder. Probably 
the Welsh were surprised. We do not read of any organized 
resistance on the one hand or of any prolonged stay on the 
other. Anglesey was * ravaged.' Three years later Rhodri 
obtained his revenge when he slew Horm, the leader of the 
Danes. This did not, however, terminate or even postpone 

151 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the struggle. In 877 (or 876) there appears to have been a 
battle of considerable size fought in Anglesey — ' the battle on 
the Sunday.' The Cymry seem to have been defeated, and 
we find Rhodri passing over to Ireland, whether as one seeking 
safety or help we cannot say — although the Irish chronicles 
suggest the former alternative. However this may be, next 
year we find him back again. This time his enemies would 
appear to have been, not the Danes, but the Saxons. In that 
year we have the entry in the Annates Cambriae : Rotri et 
filius \f rater ?] eius guriat a saxonihus iugutatur. This slaying 
of the leader of their nation by the Saxons was regarded as 
a great loss by the Welsh. A few years later we find the 
chroniclers glorying in the battle of Conway and acclaiming 
it as " God's vengeance for the slaughter of Rhodri." 

Some authorities regard ' the battle on the Sunday ' as 
having been fought between Welshman and Mercian. There 
is really no direct evidence of this. On the other hand, it is 
improbable that two Christian kings would in those days 
have chosen a holy day on which to fight. Mercia was now, 
of course, Christian.^ It would have been thought unfortunate 
to choose such a day for battle. This, then, points to a heathen 
foe. We know the Danes were in the Irish Sea about this 
time, and there is nothing antecedently improbable in their 
attempt to repeat their successful plimdering campaign of 
853. On the other hand, we have no reason to believe that 
Mercia, or Wessex, or both, were in a position to strike right 
through North Wales, cross the Menai Straits, and attack 
Rhodri in the very centre (politically) of his kingdom. Had 
this been so, seeing that the Welsh were badly defeated, the 
probabilities are that Mercia would have had some sort of 
permanent footing in North Wales ; yet such was not the case. 
We may therefore take it that ' the battle on a Sunday ' was 
fought against the Norsemen, who were not intent on settle- 
ment, but on plunder. 

^ In the Codex Diplomaticus we have preserved an interesting grant of a 
steelyard to Bishop Alhune by Burhred of Mercia for the benefit of his soul — 
but the cleric had to pay pretty stiffly for the privilege notwithstanding. 
152 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

All through Rhodri's reign it is probable that he was defend- 
ing his state from the Danes on the west and north and 
from the Mercians on the east. The help of Aethelwulf 
enabled Mercia to resist the Welsh attacks. Of what preceded 
the Saxon incursion which led to Rhodri's last defeat we really 
know nothing. The result was the death of a gallant man 
and the redivision of Wales. 

Anarawd, Cadell, and Merfyn 

Of Rhodri's six sons we are content to mention the three 
who appear to have divided their father's kingdom between 
them. These three were Anarawd, Cadell, and Merfyn. 
Anarawd, as the eldest son, took Anglesey and Gwynedd. 
Cadell obtained as his share a large part of South Wales. 
Merfyn, doubtless, took some considerable part of Wales, but 
what part is unknown. It will be observed that the above 
division takes no notice of Powys. Possibly the Mercians 
were still contesting the possession of this part of Cymru; 
possibly this was Merfyn's share. We do not know. 

North and South Wales have at various times disputed 
somewhat warmly which of these three sons was the eldest, 
arguing that upon that depends whether North Wales or 
South Wales is historically the more important. A somewhat 
empty discussion one would have thought, especially when one 
remembers that England went to a younger son and Nor- 
mandy to the elder. From the authorities it is difficult to 
say whether Anarawd or Cadell was the senior. Some say 
one, some another. To us, however, the fact that Anarawd 
inherited the principality of Gwynedd and Mon — a principality 
which had been his ancestors' from the foundation of the 
dynasty — seems to us conclusive. Whoever became Prince 
of Gwynedd and lord of Aberffraw was without question either 
the eldest son or the ouster of the eldest son, and there is ample 
evidence to show that the latter alternative cannot be accepted.^ 

These three sons seem, indeed, to have worked together 
harmoniously. They seem, however, to have been terrors to 

^ Asset also gives Anarawd priority of place. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the neiglibouring princes. We find Hyfaidd, Prince of Dyied, 
Blise ap Tewdwr of Brycheiniog, Howel of Glywysing, and 
the sons of Meurig of Gwent all in turn seeking the protection 
of Alfred/ now become, by his victory at Bthandune (878), 
the predominant power in England. Hyfaidd's position was 
rather interesting. He himself had been a notorious perse- 
cutor of the monks of St. David's, from whom he doubtless 
exacted the uttermost he could. After he had sought the 
protection of Alfred we find Asser, Bishop of St. David's, 
journeying to Alfred's court because he believed that he 
could better protect St. David's as servant of Hyfaidd's pro- 
tector than by remaining in Wales. Whether his extremely 
shrewd analysis of the situation proved correct we do not 
know. At least we must be thankful that he made the 
change. To that we owe much, if not most, of our knowledge 
of Alfred and his times. 

Alfred and the Danes 

We must now turn once again to Mercia. In 881 we find 
Aethelred of Mercia leading his army through the mountains 
of North Wales. This movement was checked and Aethelred's 
hopes finally dispelled by the battle of Conway, fought in that 
year. In this battle Anarawd decisively defeated the Mercian, 
inflicting heavy loss on his army. 

Anarawd seems now to have adopted the extreme course of 
entering into an alliance with the Danes, who had been slowly 
conquering the north of England. The arrangement does not 
seem, however, to have worked satisfactorily, and so we find 
him making submission to Alfred. Now for the first time we 
read of a Welsh prince paying a ceremonious visit to an 
English king. Anarawd appears to have been treated with 
much honour and courtesy at the court of Alfred. It was 
possibly as a result of these friendly overtures and the equally 
friendly reception of them that we find the armies of Saxon 
and Welshman ranged side by side at the battle of Buttington. 
The Welsh who fought there were " some part of the North 

^ We give the common spelling. More correctly it should be Aelfred. 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

Welsh, race." They fought as opponents of one common 
enemy, the Danes. The result was a severe check to the 
Danish arms, which had previously, during the years 892-893, 
ravaged and devastated the whole of southern England. 

Who these men of the ' North Welsh ' race were is not 
clear. The chronicle may be distinguishing them from the 
West Welsh of Cornwall ; it may be that they were men of 
what we should now call South Wales. It seems to us, how- 
ever, that it is not improbable that Anarawd had broken his 
earlier treaty with the Danes for some good reason which had 
at once driven him to Alfred and made him their bitter enemy. 
If this be so, we can reasonably infer that his men may have 
fought by the side of Mercian and West Saxon in this battle 
on the banks of the Severn. We find Anarawd aided in turn 
by the English in a campaign which he was directing against 
his brother Cadell. Confusion is introduced, however, into a 
line of argument which, in our opinion, would otherwise prove 
conclusively that it was Anarawd's men who fought at 
Buttington by the fact that early in 894 we find the Mercians 
raiding North Wales — doubtless in search of the food which 
the Danish raids had completely destroyed in their own 
country of Mercia. 

All these years the Danes were plundering and devastating 
England. The genius of Alfred had checked them time after 
time, but their numbers were considerable and they seem to 
have gloried in war. We find them, therefore, ravaging the 
Severn valley in 895. They reached Quatbridge, not far from 
Bridgnorth. From there as a centre for operations they 
destroyed Mercia and the Welsh principalities of Loyer, 
Brycheiniog, Gwent, and Gwynllwg. The next year we read 
of the Black Normans coming a second time to Castle Baldwin. 

For the next few years there was comparative peace. In 
902, however, the Celtic victory over the Danes in Ireland 
resulted in the Northmen crossing the Irish Channel and 
attacking Anglesey once more. Their leader, Hingamund, 
was beaten back by the men of Anglesey, and this campaign 
of aggression seems to have been abandoned. The ' black 

155 



HISTORY OF WALES 

pagans ' are next found attacking Chester, at that time under 
the control of Aethelflaed, lyady of the Mercians and daughter 
of Alfred. She too resisted the attacks of the Danes, and in 
later years we find her attacking and invading Brycheiniog, 
storming the royal residence, and capturing the queen, who 
was probably the wife of Tewdwr ap BUse. In the inter- 
vening years this most active lady had protected her realm 
from the risk of Welsh attacks by building a chain of forts on 
Mercia's western frontier. 

Meanwhile, in 915, a few months before Aethelflaed' s 
invasion, the Danes had appeared in the estuary of the Severn 
and had attacked and ravaged southern Wales. They appear 
to have pushed forward to the north, and had almost reached 
Hereford when they succeeded in capturing a valuable prisoner 
in the person of Cyfeiliog, Bishop of I^landaff, He was 
eventually ransomed from captivity by Edward the Elder, 
who as soon as the bishop was released took steps to secure 
the departure of the pirates. We find them retiring to 
Ireland, passing through Dyied on their way thither. 

We have now reached the year 916. In this year Anarawd 
of Gwynedd died. His brothers had predeceased him, Merfyn 
having died in the early years of the tenth century and Cadell 
in 909. Merfyn seems to have transmitted no royal inheritance 
to any successor. The principality over which Cadell had 
ruled was now divided between his sons Howel and Clydog. 
Gwynedd owned as its prince Idwal the Bald ap Anarawd. Of 
these new princes, Clydog died in 920,80 that we haveSeisyllwg, 
and possibly Dyfed, ruled over by Howel, Gwynedd by Idwal 
the Bald (Idwal Voel). 

Henceforward it would appear that Seisyllwg and Dyfed 
became merged in the principality of Deheubarth. However 
this may be, it is tolerably certain that that district was ruled 
over by Howel, named Dha, or ' the Good.* 

Howel Dha 

This prince is, perhaps, of all the Welsh princes the most 
famous— with, it may be, the exception of lylywelyn the Great 

156 







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O O 

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o 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

— and his fame rests entirely upon his qualities as a law-maker. 
Like Alfred, he appears to have been a man of learning who 
had widened his outlook on life by a journey to the imperial 
city of Rome. This occurred about 928. The exact date is 
uncertain. In the preface to the Dimetian Code we read : 
" After the law had been made and written, Howel, ac- 
companied by Princes of Cymru, and Lambert, Bishop of 
Menevia, and Mordav, Bishop of Bangor, and Cebur, Bishop 
of St. Asaph, and Blegywryd, Archdeacon of Llandaff , went to 
Rome to Pope Anastasius to read the law and to see if there 
was anything contrary to the law of God in it ; and as there 
was nothing militating against it, it was confirmed, and was 
called the law of Howel Dha from that time forward." 
Anastasius III held the papacy from 911-913. In opposition 
to this we find the Chronicles of the Princes referring to Howel's 
journey to Rome as taking place in 926. The Annates 
Cambriae gives the date as 928. It is hardly probable that 
Howel journeyed to Rome with his lawyers and laws in 913, 
since he only succeeded to a half-share in his principaUty in 
909. Taking all things into consideration, we are inclined to 
fix the date as 928, during the pontificate of Leo VI. It is 
also highly probable that the account of this journey given 
in the Welsh code is inaccurate in other ways besides the 
date. There is reason to believe that Howel did not compile 
his laws until he had become king of Cymru in 941 or 942, 
on the death of Idwal of Gwynedd. Both the Venedotian 
and the Dimetian Code expressly refer to him as king of 
all Cymru, and it must be remembered that the code of 
Howel Dha is tripartite and is concerned with the laws 
and customs of the whole of Wales, thus suggesting that 
the prince who authorized the compilation had control 
over the part of the country affected. On the other 
hand, the Gwentian Code refers to him as king of Cymru 
— a difference which we might expect, since Howel was 
never king of Gwent or Morgannwg. If the above be 
correct, it is not probable that Howel's journey to Rome 
had any very intimate connexion with his laws. It was 

157 



HISTORY OF WALES 

simply a journey undertaken to acquire culture, learning, and 
experience. 

Another sign that Howel was intellectually superior to most 
of the Welsh princes of that age is to be found in his dealings 
and transactions with the court of Aethelstan. It would 
appear that Aethelstan, after the expulsion of Guthfred from 
Northumbria in 926, marched against the Welsh. In the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle we read that he subjugated all the 
kings who were in this island, including Howel, king of the 
West Welsh, and Owain, king of Gwent. The West Welsh 
were, of course, the men of Cornwall. The chronicler may, 
however, have been wrong in so describing them. It may 
have been that the Howel referred to was Howel of Deheubarth 
— Howel Dha. We may take it that Aethelstan summoned 
the leading Welsh princes to Hereford in 927, and imposed 
a tribute upon them of gold, silver, cattle, dogs, and hawks. 
After this time we frequently find Howel's signature appended 
to grants made by Aethelstan. Concerning this signing of 
Saxon grants. Professor lyloyd has said : " It is ... a 
significant fact that Hywel is of all the Welsh princes the most 
prominent in this connexion ; from 928 to 949 his name is 
appended to every charter which has Welsh signatures, and is 
among them placed first ; in three cases he is the only under- 
king who joins in the grant. He is often supported by Idwal 
Foel and Morgan ab Owain of Morgannwg, and once by 
Tewdwr ab Elisedd of Brycheiniog, but no prince seems to 
have entered so heartily into Athelstan's design of linking 
Wales with England by this system of attendance at the 
English court. All that is known of Hywel points him out as 
a warm admirer, not only of Alfred, but also of English civiliza- 
tion. He led no expedition across the border, but instead 
secured to Athelstan the faithful allegiance of his brother 
chiefs, even in that year of rebellion, 937, when the league 
against Wessex included the Scots, the Danes, and the Strath- 
clyde Britons, and only the southern Britons held aloof. 
English influence is manifest in the law of Hywel, and betrays 
itself even in the naming of his sons, for Edwin ap Hyivel Dda 
158 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

bore an Bnglisli name, which was possibly given him out of 
compliment to the young son of Edward the Elder who 
perished in 933." ^ 

As we have said, Howel's fame rests on his laws. These we 
have already considered. We are by no means convinced 
that they show any great dependence on or obligation to the 
Saxon dooms. In many ways the systems are similar, but 
the laws as we have them (they were, of course, augmented in 
the succeeding centuries) are very much fuller and more 
developed than the dooms of either Alfred or Aethelstan. 
Alfred's dooms are, of course, largely Mosaic. Aethelstan's 
are more valuable as mirroring the Anglo-Saxon law. Neither 
are to be compared in fullness or in legal excellence with 
Howel's compilations. If Howel copied at all, we believe that 
it was from the Continental codes and the Leges Barbarorum 
rather than from the dooms of contemporary English kings. 

Howel's friendship with the house of Aethelstan stood him 
in excellent stead during the troublous times of 942. In that 
year Idwal Voel, the son of Anarawd, revolted against 
Eadmund, who had succeeded Aethelstan on the latter's death 
in 940. The result was disastrous to the Welsh prince, he and 
his brother Elisedd being slain by the Saxons in battle. Idwal 
Voel left as heirs lago and Idwal leuaf (the younger). These 
appear to have been but youths, and we find Howel (who was 
probably supported by Wessex) expelling them from their 
principality and claiming it for himself. Howel was now 
king of most of Wales. It is not improbable that he had 
already obtained control over Powys. Morgannwg and Gwent 
were still, and remained, separate states. 

It is this unification of Wales that rendered the codification 
of Welsh laws and tribal customs practicable. That all the 
laws now known as the Laws of Howel Dha really date from 
his reign is more than improbable. Many of the texts contain 

* Lloyd, History of Wales, vol. i, pp. 336, 337. It vdll be observed that 
the names are spelt differently from our text. It is to be regretted that 
there is no standardization of the spelling of Welsh names. The same 
difficulty is foimd to a lesser degree in Anglo-Saxon names — e.g. Cnut, Knut, 
Canute ; EJcgbryht or Egbert ; Aethelstan or Athelstan, etc. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

important amplifications dating from the time of Rhys ap 
Gruff ydd, who died in 1 197. As to one of the codes — the 
Gwentian — ^it has been suggested that it is a compilation made 
by Morgeneu and his son Cj^nerth, and was not dependent 
for its inception upon Howel. However this may be, it 
is clear that Howel's laws formed the basis and a consider- 
able part of the finest code of laws compiled in Britain in the 
tenth century. In our opinion BngUsh law has nothing 
to equal it until the time of Ranulf de Glanville, and 
it may be that we should say until the time of Henry 
Bracton.^ 

Howel died in 950. On his death Wales was once more 
divided, and became subject to various rulers. Yet although 
he did not leave the Welsh a united nation capable of remaining 
united, he left them a written code of laws which could not have 
but made for better government and a better administration 
of justice. 

OwAIN 

From the death of Howel until the accession of Maredudd ap 
Owain in 986 no event stands out or appears worthy of any 
special mention. Throughout the intervening years the 
country was in a state of confusion owing to the tribal wars 
fomented by the sons of Idwal Voel on the one side and the 
sons of Howel Dha on the other. We have already seen how 
Howel seized the crown of Gwynedd on the death of Idwal 
Voel in the battle fought by him against Eadmund. At that 
time Idwal Voel's sons — lago and Idwal leuaf — were young, 
and Howel was strong enough to override their pretensions to 
their father's throne. On the death of Howel the position was 
very different. 

Howel left as sons to succeed him Rhodri, Eadwine (or 
Edwin) , and Owain. The first two died in 953 and 954 respec- 
tively, leaving Owain sole successor to his father's dignities. 

* The late Professor Maitland pointed out many years ago in the Law 
Quarterly Review that these Welsh codes had received far too httle attention 
from students of early law. 

160 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

In the meantime — that is to say, between the death of Howel 
and Bdwin — the sons of Idwal Voel had defeated the sons of 
Howel in the battle of Nant Carno, thereby recovering the 
principality of Gwynedd, and possibly Powys also. Following 
this success we find lago and Idwal leuaf ravaging Dyfed, and 
Owain retaliating by marching into North Wales, doubtless 
carrying fire and slaughter through the land. He was even- 
tually checked by the defeat inflicted upon him at the battle 
of lylanrwst. He and his men retired, followed by the 
victorious men of Gwynedd, who in turn ravaged Ceredigion. 
All this, of course, points to a number of petty squabbles 
between princehngs, mere border raids, carried on by one 
side or the other with varying success. To add to the con- 
fusion we find civil war breaking out in Gwynedd, and Idwal 
leuaf and lago engaging in battle. In 969 Idwal leuaf was 
captured by lago, who caused him to be blinded, and of 
him we hear no more. leuaf's son, Howel, avenged his 
father's fate by capturing lago in 979. Howel ap leuaf 
(Howel Ddrwg, or ' the Bad ') now becomes Prince of 
Gwynedd. On his death in 985 he was succeeded by his 
brother Cadwallawn. 

While all these tribal and civil wars were in progress it is 
evident that the Saxons were ever ready to take advantage of 
the weak state of Wales. It is also probable that the ' black 
pagans ' were still hovering round the Welsh coast. 

In 965 (perhaps it was 968 : the various chronicles do not 
agree) we read of the English invading and ravaging Gwynedd. 
On the whole, however, we do not find the king of England — 
Edgar the Peaceful — taking any great advantage of the dis- 
organized state of Wales. The princes of Wales had for some 
time acknowledged the king of Wessex, and later the king 
of the Enghsh, as overlord. Edgar appears to have found 
it convenient to require the sub-kings to recognize his title 
anew. We therefore read of his going to Chester and 
summoning eight under-kings to swear fealty and do homage 
to him. Of these eight five were Welsh. Afterward, accord- 
ing to William of Malmesbury, the king caused these princes, 

L 161 



HISTORY OF WALES 

as a mark of their vassalage, to row him in his royal barge 
from the palace at Chester to the monastery of St. John 
the Baptist, and from thence back again. Although all this 
must not be accepted as quite accurate history, there is, perhaps, 
some truth behind it.^ It is by no means improbable that 
Edgar should at this time require fresh oaths of fealty from 
the turbulent Welshmen, and there are in existence several 
examples of charters signed by Idwal leuaf and lago as 
sub-kings under him. 

While the fratricidal struggle was in progress between lago 
and leuaf in Gwynedd, Owain of Deheubarth appears to have 
cast covetous eyes upon Morgannwg and Gwent. We read of 
certain raids and skirmishes, but the engagements seem to 
have been unimportant and to have had no lasting result. In 
one of the encounters we read of the death of one of Owain' s 
sons, Kinion. 

We have now reached the year 986. Owain was by this 
time an old man, unfitted for the burdens of kingship in such 
troublous times. We therefore find him abdicating in favour 
of his son Maredudd. 

Maredudd ap Owain 

Maredudd ap Owain seems to have been an energetic and 
valiant prince. At the very commencement of his reign he 
won a signal victory over Cadwallawn ap leuaf, with the result 
that Gwynedd and Deheubarth were united once more under 
one ruler. Apparently Dyfed and Gwyr were also under his 
control, in which case it may be that the encounter in which 
Kinion lost his life was more important than we have given it 
credit for being. 

Maredudd's chief concern during his short reign (986-999) 

^ The story, with variations, comes from many sources. It is mentioned 
in the Brut y Tywysogion (Caerleon-upon-Usk is given as the meeting- place) 
and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (which places the incident at Chester), as 
well as by Florence of Worcester (again Chester is the place suggested). >Aelfric 
in his hfe of St. Swithin confirms it by inference. In view of the fact that 
the ceremony was probably connected with Edgar's coronation at Bath it may 
be that Caerleon-upon-Usk was the place of meeting. 
162 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

appears to have been the ' black pagans/ In 988 we read 
of his ransoming captives at the rate of id. per person. Three 
years before this we read that " Godfrey, son of Harold, with 
the black host; devastated the Isle of Mona, and 2000 men 
were blinded [Annales Camhriae = captured], and the re- 
mainder Maredudd, son of Owain, took with him to Ceredigion 
and Dyved." This seems to point to a wholesale evacuation 
of Anglesey. It is not improbable that it was some of these 
2000 captives (we discredit the entry in the Bi'^it relating to 
the blinding of the men) whom Maredudd in later years 
redeemed. In 990 we read that " Eadwine, son of Einion, VN^ith 
Edis the Great, a Saxon prince from the seas of the south, 
devastated all the kingdoms of Maredudd, to wit, Dyved, and 
Ceredigion, and Gower [Gwyr], and Cydweli; and a second 
time took hostages from all the territory ; and devastated 
Menevia a third time." Who Edis the Great may have been 
we do not know, but the combination of Welshman and Saxon 
seems to have pressed heavily upon Maredudd, for we find 
him adopting the extraordinary policy of " hiring the pagans 
willing to join him " in order to beat back his enemies. With 
these pagan auxiliaries we read of his devastating Morgannwg. 
In 993 retribution came for this unholy alliance and the 
spoiling of Morgannwg, for in that year Maredudd's territories 
were laid waste by plague, and while his kingdom was still 
staggering from this misfortune its king was attacked and 
defeated by the sons of Meurig (a dispossessed prince of 
Gwynedd) . 

During all these years it must be remembered that the Danes 
were almost certainly harassing the coast- line. In 994 we find 
Sweyn, a Danish leader, laying waste the Isle of Man ; this was 
doubtless but one of several similar excursions. Maredudd's 
reign must have been a singularly troublous one, containing as 
it did attacks by the Danes and the Saxons, Edwin ap Einion 
and the sons of Meurig ap Idwal Voel of Gwynedd, and, last — 
and probably worst — ^the plague. With his death his kingdom, 
wasted by these numerous misfortunes and attacks, relapsed 
into a state of anarchy. 

163 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Llywelyn ap Seisyll 

We propose to say very little of the succeeding decade. 
Gwynedd returned to the old dynasty of Cunedda, Conan, 
grandson of Idwal leuaf , recovering that principality from the 
house of Deheubarth. 

As to Deheubarth, it seems to have fallen into a completely 
disorganized state. Maredudd had died leaving no sons. The 
progeny of his elder brother, Binion, were, on the other hand, 
numerous. The eldest of these, Kdwin, had in Maredudd' s 
lifetime made several attempts to recapture the throne. 
These attempts not improbably continued against Maredudd' s 
heiress, Angharad, and her husband, lylywelyn ap Seisyll. 

It would appear, however, that the occupant of the precarious 
throne of Deheubarth had to fear the claims of pretenders 
more than what, to us, look like the legitimate demands of 
Edwin, his brothers or descendants. lylywelyn himself could 
boast of no title to the principality save through his wife, 
and consequently it was upon his own right arm that he had 
to rely. 

Pretender after pretender now arose. The first, Aeddan ap 
Blegywryd, laid claim to the crown of Gwynedd. He appears 
to have been successful, but was eventually defeated in battle 
and killed, with his four sons. This occurred in 1018, and 
established lylywelyn's claim to Gwynedd. 

Another of these pretenders was Rhydderch ap lestyn, who 
was, however, somewhat later in date, and appears to have 
captured Deheubarth in 1023, and retained control thereof for 
ten years. In the meantime we read in the Chronicles of the 
Princes, under date 1020, that "A certain Scot falsely pretended 
to be the son of King Maredudd, and caused himself to be 
named king ; and the men of the south received him as their 
lord, and to a kingdom ; and his name was Rein. And 
lylywelyn, son of Seisyll, supreme King of Gwynedd, and the 
chief and most renowned king of all the Britons, made war 
against him. In his time it was usual for the elders of his 
kingdom to say that his dominion was from one sea to the 
164 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

other ; complete in abundance of wealth and inhabitants ; so 
that it was supposed there was neither poor nor destitute in 
all his territories, nor an empty hamlet, nor any deficiency. 
And then Rein the Scot boldly led on his host, and, after the 
manner of the Scots, proudly and ostentatiously exhorted his 
men to fight, confidently promising them that he should 
conquer, and so he boldly approached his enemies, and they 
coolly and fearlessly awaited that vaunting and arrogant 
challenger. He, daring and fearless, repaired to the conflict, 
and after the battle was fought, with a general slaughter on 
both sides, and constant fighting, through the bravery of the 
Gwyneddians, victory was obtained over Rein the Scot and 
his host. And as it is proverbially said, ' Excite thy dog, 
but do not pursue ' ; he assaulted bravely and fearlessly, 
and retreated shamefully in a fox-like manner. And the 
Gwyneddians wrathfully pursued him, slaying his men, and 
devastating the country, pillaging every place and destroying 
it as far as Mercia ; and he never from henceforward made 
his appearance." 

This victory at Abergwyli, in conjunction with the earlier 
defeat of Aeddan, gave to I/lywelyn the supreme power in 
Wales. He was not destined to enjoy for long the high 
position his resource had won for him, for he lived but two 
years after the defeat of the Scot. 

It will doubtless have been observed by the reader that the 
reign of I^lywelyn is represented by the chronicler in glowing 
terms as a sort of Golden Age of plenty and prosperity. It is 
not possible to say at this distance of time whether this was so 
or not. It is certain that the throne of Gwynedd was made 
during this time the bone of contention between several 
persons. This, however, may have had but little eft'ect on 
the general prosperity of the people. We believe that these 
dynastic (if such a word can be used) struggles were mainly 
family feuds, very limited in extent. On the other hand, there 
is good reason to believe that Wales for the first time for 
centuries enjoyed a complete freedom from Saxon attack. 
During the years 978-1016 the throne of England v/as 

165 



HISTORY OF WALES 

occupied by the semi-lunatic Aethelred the Redeless, who was 
too busy mismanaging his kingdom and too much occupied in 
losing it completely to the Danes to have any time for harassing 
the Welsh. This breathing-space no doubt enabled Wales to 
become more prosperous. Had Cymru possessed but one 
great leader during those years of external peace, he might 
have united the broken links ; he might have welded a bond 
of unity which would have enabled the Welsh to stand side 
by side in vigorous resistance of, first, the Danes and, later, 
the Normans. Unfortunately, Wales throughout its early 
history was cursed with a tribal system which practically 
made unity impossible. The old evil, then, lived on. For 
a few years Llywelyn was king of Wales — and then again 
disruption. 

Although it is probable, as we have said, that Wales enjoyed 
peace on its eastern borders during the reign of Aethelred, the 
tale was very different on the sea-coast. Time after time the 
Danish pirates beat down on the coast of Wales. Professor 
Lloyd sums up the position admirably, and we content ourselves 
with a quotation from his History of Wales : "It was unusual 
during the half-century between 950 and 1000 for more than 
five years to pass without a Danish attack upon some quarter 
of Wales important enough to be recorded in some chronicle 
of the time. Anglesey, lyleyn, Dyfed, and the shores of the 
Severn especially suffered from this scourge, but no part of 
the coast was wholly secure. As in the ninth century, the 
raiders were chiefly attracted by the plunder of the monas- 
teries ; the sack of Aberffraw, the royal seat of Gwynedd, in 
968 stands alone, for the other places said to have been raided 
by the foreigners were all the sites of important churches. 
Holyhead was despoiled in 961, Towjm in 963, Penmon in 971, 
Clynnog in 978, Mynyn (St. David's) in 982, 988, and 999, and 
in 988 a whole series of sanctuaries, including Llanbadarn 
Fawr, Llandudoch (St. Dogmael's), lylanilltud, and lylancarfan." 
Continuing, he adds : " Magnus, or Maccus, son of Harold . . . 
in 971 made a descent upon Penmon, while his brother Godfrey, 
who succeeded him about 977, appears on four occasions as 
166 



THE PERIOD OF THE PRINCES 

the leader of a flotilla bound for Wales in pursuit of booty. 
In 972 he ravaged Anglesey ; in 980 he helped Cystennin ab 
lago in an attack upon the same island, which was directed 
against Hywel [Howel] ab leuaf ; in 982 he invaded Dyfed ; 
in 987 he and his Danish host, in a third irruption into Anglesey, 
won a victory over the Welsh, the fame of which — ^for a 
thousand of the enemy were left dead on the field and two 
thousand carried into captivity — penetrated to Ireland, and 
was thought worthy to be preserved in the annals of that 
country." 

As we have seen, I/lywelyn, having frustrated the attempts 

of Bdwin to seize the throne of Deheubarth, had early made 

good his right to succeed Maredudd. His conquest of 

Gwynedd from the pretender who followed Conan ap Howel 

ap Idwal leuaf did not take place, however, until 1018, and 

five years later he died. For the next sixteen years (1023- 

1039) we have presented to us the spectacle common in Welsh 

history of various claimants to the throne fighting furiously 

among themselves. In the north lago of the house of Rhodri 

Mawr succeeded in asserting his rightful claim, and seems to 

have ruled in peace until 1039, when, as we shall see, he was 

succeeded by Gruffydd ap lylywelyn. In the south there was 

continuous conflict between the families of Bdwin, Seisyll, and 

Rhydderch, In 1027 Conan ap Seisyll was killed. Six years 

later Rhydderch ap lestyn, who had usurped the princely 

power, was slain by the Scots, and Howel and Maredudd, sons 

of Edwin, ruled over Deheubarth. In 1032 we find the battle 

of Hiraethwg taking place between these two princes and the 

descendants of Rhydderch, and in the year following Maredudd 

was killed by the sons of Conan, and Caradog ap Rhydderch 

was put to death by the Saxons. Matters were, indeed, 

drifting toward anarchy when Gruffydd made good his claim 

to Gwynedd in 1039. With the entry of this prince on the 

stage of our history we have to deal with events of greater 

importance than have occupied us for some time. 



167 



CHAPTER X 

GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

(1039 1-1063) 

GRUFFYDD AP I,IvYWElyYN, a descendant of 
- Roderick the Great, came on Ids mother's side from 
' the royal house of Deheubarth. His father, I^lywelyn 
ap Seisyll, was not improbably a Prince of Powys before he 
succeeded in making good his claim to Deheubarth and 
Gwynedd. On the death of lylywelyn, who had no hereditary 
claim to either Deheubarth or Gwynedd, we find both those 
principalities returning to descendants of the ancient houses. 
In the north, as we have seen, lago, a great-grandson of Idwal 
Voel, was chosen as prince. In the south, after the death of 
Rhydderch, Deheubarth was divided between Howel and 
Maredudd, the two elder sons of Edwin ap Einion. 

Gruffydd's first step to greatness was taken over the corpse 
of lago, who, in 1039, was murdered by his own men, as some 
say. Since there is nothing in lago's reign to lead one to 
expect such a heinous crime (treachery to a man of one's kin 
was looked upon with the utmost loathing and contempt) , the 
account given of his death in the Chronicles of the Princes and 
the Annates Camhriae seems to us more probable. There we 
read that lestyn ap Gwrgant, having ravished Gruffydd's 
cousin, Ardden vz Robert ap Seisyll, fled to lago, who gave 
him his protection. Gruff ydd was of all men then living 
about the very last to tolerate such an insult. A man of fiery 
passions himself, he was capable of slaying a husband to seize 

1 Our authorities for the dates in this reign are Lloyd's History of Wales 
and Plummer's Saxon Chronicles. There is reason to believe that the dates 
given in the Brut y Tywysogion are a year or two too early. 

168 



GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

the wife — as lie did two years later — but he would be the 
first to resent such an action on the part of another. Violent, 
cruel, jealous, and passionate, he was at the same time brave, 
politic, and a great believer in his own dignity. The story is 
told ^ of how Gruffydd and Edward the Confessor when about 
to meet to settle a treaty of peace found themselves on 
opposite banks of the Severn. Neither would cross first, since 
to do so would be to acknowledge inferiority. We pause to 
point out that Gruffydd was here overstraining his dignity. 
Edward finally grew tired of the senseless delay and com- 
menced to cross. Gruffydd, who must have known that 
precedence lay with Edward, completely overwhelmed by his 
opponent's courtesy, plunged into the stream, and on reaching 
the boat carrying the English king embraced it and carried its 
royal burden to shore on his shoulders. 

A man of this proud nature was not one to tolerate dis- 
honour to a lady of his house. We therefore read of his 
marshalling an army, attacking lago, defeating and slaying 
him, and seizing his territory. Thus once more in the tale of 
history a state was lost and won because of a woman's looks 
and a man's folly. 

This occurred about 1039. Gruffydd was now Prince of 
Powys and Gwynedd. He had, therefore, the whole of north 
and north-east and central Wales under his control, and 
he appears to have felt himself strong enough to tilt at the 
Saxons. In the same year he surprised and attacked the 
Mercian army near Welshpool (Rhyd y Groes, on the Severn, 
was the actual place of combat). The defeat thus inflicted 
seems to have been an important one. It would appear from 
the nature of the entry in the Brut that this campaign was 
connected with some earlier offensive movements against 
Deheubarth, and that the South Wales men had called in 
Mercian aid. Of this we cannot speak with confidence, but 
we find Gruffydd after the battle of Rhyd y Groes " depopulat- 
ing " Ivlanbadarn and driving Howel, king of Deheubarth, from 
his realm. This Howel had been left as sole king of Deheubarth 

1 Walter Map is responsible for this tale. 

169 



HISTORY OF WALES 

by the early death of his younger brother, Maredudd, in 1035. 
For the next few years Gruffydd was engaged in bringing 
about his complete overthrow. 

In 1041 Gruffydd's third great battle was fought at Pen 
Cadeir, or Pencader. Howel was defeated. We read that 
Gruffydd seized his rival's wife " and took her as his wife." 
This lady, who, according to Walter Map, was most delight- 
fully beautiful,^ was not yet a widow. Howel, though defeated, 
was still alive and still had command over certain parts of his 
possessions. In 1042 we find him (Howel) beating back the 
Danes at PwU Dyfach, near Caermarthen. Soon afterward 
he appears to have found it necessary to fly from his native 
land. In 1044, however, we read of his returning to Deheu- 
barth, " accompanied by a fleet of the people of Ireland." 
These auxiliaries had evidently been raised to enable him to 
recover from Gruflydd the prizes he had won. The two met 
in battle at Aber Tywi, and Howel was slain. 

Struggle for Deheubarth 

Gruffydd was now master of practically the whole of Wales. 
He was not, however, allowed to remain long in peaceful 
enjoyment of Deheubarth. 

It will perhaps be remembered that one of the successful 
usurpers of the throne of Deheubarth was Rhydderch ap 
lestyn. He had been killed in battle about 1033, and it was 
then that the succession reverted to the line of Roderick in 
the persons of Howel and Maredudd. Maredudd, as we have 
seen, died soon afterward. 

Although Rhydderch was slain in 1033, his line was by no 
means exterminated. With the death of Howel we find 
Gruffydd ap Rhydderch laying claim to the principality which 
had been his father's. The two Gruffydds were now in open 
opposition. Local feeling seems to have been on the side of 
the son of Rhydderch. At least we find Gruffydd ap lylywelyn 
so hard pressed that in 1046 he called in Saxon aid in the 
person of Karl Sweyn. Peace followed, though the new 

1 Map may have been referring to Gruffydd's later bride. 
170 



GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

claimant was by no means disposed of. In the next year 
Gruffydd ap lylywelyn was surprised and all but captured and 
slain by the chiefs of Ystrad Tywi, He replied by devastating 
Ystrad Tywi and Dyfed. 

Although this looks as if Gruffydd ap lylywelyn had the 
better of the conflict, it would seem that he must have suffered 
some serious reverse of which we know nothing. It is clear 
that for many years it was Gruffydd ap Rhydderch and not 
lylywelyn's son who ruled over Deheubarth. Gruffydd ap 
Rhydderch seems, indeed, to have played the part of prince 
with intelligence, if not with nobility. We find him deflecting 
the Danish raids from his own coast to the nearest English 
towns. We may even suspect him of taking a hand in the 
plundering of his Saxon neighbours. 

In 1052 Gruffydd ap I/lywelyn reappears on the scene. In 
the intervening years important events had taken place 
on the eastern boundaries of Wales. Earl Sweyn had been 
driven from Hereford, and his place had been taken by Ralph, 
Edward the Confessor's nephew. With him many important 
Normans had come (Ralph was of Norman birth on his 
father's side) , and Norman castles were beginning to spring up. 
Gruffydd no doubt viewed with anger this presence of a new 
and powerful group of nobles. We find him about 1052 
indulging in a raid upon Herefordshire. Nothing important 
came of this expedition, but it was in truth the commence- 
ment of the long struggle against the Norman marcher 
lords. ^ The Normans were at first defeated. In a battle 
fought at Ivcominster Gruffydd was victorious. A few years 
hence he was to win a far more signal victory over the 
new-comers. 

From the return of Gruft'ydd to his people, loaded with 
spoil as the result of this successful foray, we may date the 
commencement of the struggle which was to make Gruffydd 
one of the most dangerous of Earl Harold's many opponents 
and render necessary, in subsequent years, the combination 

1 Of course the serious struggle did not commence until after the Norman 
Conquest. 

171 



HISTORY OF WALES 

of many forces before the brave Welsh chieftain was at last 
laid low. 

Gruffydd Supreme in Wales 

In 1055 Gruffydd' s power was further strengthened by the 
overthrow of Gruffydd ap Rhydderch. This gave him Deheu- 
barth, and not improbably Gwent also. Thus we now find 
him truly Prince of Wales. His position was for another reason 
stronger than that of any previous British chieftain since the 
days of Cadwallawn, perhaps we should say since the time of 
the Romans. He was fortunate in having for his eastern neigh- 
bour an earl who was at once powerful and in need of an ally. 
I^eofric of Mercia, the husband of the famous Lady Godiva, 
had quarrelled with the house of Earl Godwine, now repre- 
sented by Harold, who was becoming the most powerful earl 
in England. Earl Godwine had, as is well known, been 
banished, and on his fall Aelfgar, son of Earl Eeofric, was 
given the East Anglian earldom. With the return to power 
of Godwine's son a natural enmity arose between the families 
of the possessor and the dispossessed, which was not healed 
by the surrender by Aelfgar of the forfeited earldom. Shortly 
after Harold became Earl of Wessex vv^e find Aelfgar accused 
of treason and outlawed. 

This was in 1055, the same year that saw Gruffydd prince of 
all Wales. It was not entirely unnatural, despite the ancient 
rivalry between Mercian and Welshman, for Aelfgar in this 
time of need to turn for help to his western neighbour. Nor 
did he content himself with this alone, for we find him also 
seeking aid from the Danes, The combination thus formed 
must have been a very strong one, and in the result it would 
appear that the Welsh prince was far from being the weakest 
of the allies. 

The first and final adventure of the combined forces was the 
attack upon Hereford, an attack so boldly conceived, so admir- 
ably carried out, and so convincing in its result that almost 
without a further struggle peace was made, Aelfgar being 
restored and much land granted to Gruffydd. 
172 



GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

The combatants at the fight at Hereford were Gruffydd 
and Earl Aelfgar on the one side, and Earl Ralph, son of the 
Count of Vexin and nephew to King Edward, on the other. 
The allies inarched to the plunder of Hereford ; they were met 
about two miles outside the city by the Norman earl. The 
actual combat appears to have been of short duration. Earl 
Ralph and his men were scattered ; their lines were entirely 
broken, and the allies rushed the city, capturing the castle by 
a surprise attack with very little difficulty. Hereford itself, 
including its cathedral, was fired, after the allies had removed 
such valuables as they cared to carry away. 

This was a serious blow struck against the prestige and 
dignity of the English king. Some small attempt was made 
to send a punitive force against Wales. It was totally un- 
successful, and the year was too far advanced for a lengthy 
campaign. Peace was therefore patched up, as we have already 
stated — a peace which from its nature and from the place of 
meeting may be called the Truce of Billingsley. 

As soon as the winter was over this truce was torn up, and 
the English are found attacking Gruffydd. The leader of the 
invading force was Bishop lycofgar, who was doubtless anxious 
to avenge the burning of Hereford Cathedral and the murder 
of its seven canons. The bishop seems to have been more of 
a soldier than a cleric, but, unfortunately for him and his 
army, less of a soldier than was Gruffydd. The armies met 
on June i6, 1056, and the result was once again a decisive 
victory for the Welsh prince. The bishop was slain and his 
army retreated in disorder. Again an attempt was made to 
send an effective punitive expedition against Gruffydd ; again 
it failed, and again peace was made. 

In the following year Gruffydd' s ally, Aelfgar, succeeded his 
father as Earl of Mercia, and we find Gruffydd strengthening 
the ties which bound them together by his marriage with the 
Lady Godiva's beautiful granddaughter, Ealdgyth, daughter 
of Aelfgar.^ 

Gruffydd's next military move would appear to have been 

1 This is perhaps the lady of whom Map speaks in such glowing terms. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

in 1058. In the Brut we read that in that year ^ " Magnus, 
son of Harold, King of Germany, came to England and ravaged 
the dominions of the Saxons, Gruffydd aiding him as conductor 
and auxiliary." This was Magnus, son of Harold Hardrada of 
Norway. The confederation probably took place in order to 
give aid a second time to Aelfgar. 

Gruffydd's Decline in Power 

In 1062 Earl Aelfgar died. With his death Gruffydd became 
once more open to attack from Mercia. Aelfgar's successor, 
who was a youth, seems to have been unable to render the 
aid given by his father. Consequently from the death of the 
Mercian earl we must date the commencement of Gruffydd's 
decline. The downward path once taken, Gruffydd's descent 
was swift. His death was a sorry ending to a vigorous career, 
for he was slain by his own men in the year following. 

The events which led up to this miserable end centre around 
Earl Harold. He seems to have regarded Gruffydd with 
peculiar malignity, so that we find him in 1063 planning the 
surprise and murder of the Welsh prince in his own palace at 
Rhuddlan. The move was certainly a bold one. Harold's 
purpose was to push right through North Wales from Chester 
with a small bodyguard in order to catch his enemy unpre- 
pared. The attempt failed in its main purpose. Gruffydd 
escaped by sea ; but his palace was burnt, almost about his 
ears, and the adventure must have destroyed his prestige to a 
very large degree. 

Harold was not, however, content with the burning of his 
rival's house or Vv^ith the reduction of his rival's fame. He 
had clearly determined that Gruffydd and peace could not 
live together. For the purpose of bringing about the downfall 
of his enemy we find Harold arranging with Tostig, Earl of 
Northumberland, a large and well-developed scheme for the 
invasion of Wales and the final overthrow of Gruffydd. Tostig 
was to advance from the north, probably by way of Chester, 

1 In the Brut and Annales Camhriae the entry is under date 1056. These 
dates, as we have said, are a year or two in arrear. 



GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

while Harold collected his men at Bristol. Both armies 
mainly consisted of light cavalry — the type of military force 
best suited for campaigning in a country where rapid move- 
ment over difficult ground was essential to success. With 
the appearance of this formidable army at its gates the men 
of Wales showed their old weakness. We strongly suspect 
that most of these disputes were quarrels which interested 
and affected the ruling houses only, and did not touch very 
closely the people of Wales. However this may be, we find 
the men of Deheubarth seceding. They made terms with 
Harold and renounced their allegiance to Gruff ydd. In justice 
to the Welsh race it must be remembered that Gruffydd was 
Prince of Deheubarth, not by right, but by force. 

This loss of about one-third of his supporters was a great 
blow to the Welsh leader. We find Harold harassing the 
whole of North Wales, driving Gruffydd from one place of 
refuge to another, and ravaging, without doubt, the country 
through which he had to pass. The men of North Wales, so 
proud of their leader in the days of his prosperity, so ready to 
acclaim him with shouts of triumph when he led them to 
victory and returned with them loaded with the sack of the 
cities he had reduced, now, in the time of his need, basely 
deserted him. He was murdered by his own followers, and 
his head was sent to Harold as a peace-offering. Thus, in the 
words of the chronicler, " Gruffydd ap lylywelyn, the head and 
shield and defender of the Britons, fell through the treachery 
of his own men. The man who had been hitherto invincible 
was now left in the glens of desolation." 

Results of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's Reign 

In estimating the importance of Gruffydd's reign, one of 
the best tests to take is the amount of territory which he 
succeeded in recovering for his country. From this point of 
view the results of Gruffydd's many victories have been most 
admirably stated by Professor lyloyd, from whose liistory we 
again intend to quote. Thus he says : ^ " Rhuddlan on the 

1 Lloyd's History of Wales, vol. ii, p. 366. 

175 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Clywd, which had once been held by the Earls of Mercia, was 
in 1063 a royal seat of Gruffydd's. . . . The whole country 
from here to the vale of Maelor, as far as Wat's Dyke to the 
east, had been cleared by Gruffydd of its English settlers, who 
no longer tilled the fields of Preston (Prestatyn), Merton 
(Mertyn), Whitford, Bruncot (Broncoed), and Hope, At 
Bishopstree (Bistre) he had another residence, to which his 
vassals in the region of the Alun brought their dues of beer, 
butter, and the like. The Maelor district had for many years 
formed the English hundred of Exestan, and in 958 King 
Edgar of Mercia is recorded to have bestowed upon St. 
Werburgh's Abbey, Chester, the hamlet of Hodeshlith (Hoseley) 
within its bounds. But under Edward the Confessor the 
whole of this fertile plain, in which ' ham ' and ' ford ' and 
' stock ' bear witness to an English settlement of long standing, 
was in the hands of Gruff ydd ; it had, indeed, been formally 
bestowed upon him by Edward, it may be in 1055, but in any 
case as the recognition of an accomplished fact. Almost the 
whole hundred of Mersete, lying around Oswestry, was in the 
like case, and one learns that the English loss was recent from 
the statement made in Domesday that Whittington, Maesbury, 
and Chirbury, which in 1066 yielded no revenue whatever to 
the Crown, had between them furnished half a [k]night's ferm 
in the days of Ethelred. The Severn was still the boundary 
between the two races from Melverley to lycighton, but further 
south evidence of the aggression of Gruff^^dd is again forth- 
coming. Not only Chirbury, but a score of villages round 
about, where the English system of hidage had been in full 
force, had been rendered uninhabitable, and, instead of fifty 
hides paying the king's taxes, there was nothing but a great 
forest. Along the Herefordshire border, signs of the activity 
of Gruff ydd are, as might be expected, everywhere visible, A 
line drawn from Brampton Bryan on the Teme to Willersley 
on the Wye would roughly indicate the western limit of 
English occupation at this time ; all the English villages 
between this and Radnor Forest — Knighton, Radnor, Kington, 
Huntington, and a score of others — had been abandoned to the 
176 



am».z":^^^mm:)i's 




Pirate XXXI. The Water Tower and Wai,i<s, Chester 

Photo Frith 176 



GRUFFYDD AP LLYWELYN 

Welsh, largely, no doubt, as the result of the raid of 1052. 
South of the Wye, again, the country bore vivid witness to 
the work of 1055 ; only a few villages lining the south bank 
of the river are entered in Domesday as yielding an income to 
English lords under the Confessor, and of Archenfield or 
Krging as a whole it is said that, though at one time paying 
rent and service to the English king, it had been so devastated 
by Gruff ydd and his successor, Bleddyn, as to be of no value 
to the Crown in 1066." 

It will therefore be seen that Gruffydd's campaigns were 
something more than mere border forays, and that from the 
extent of his gains he could not have been the most insignificant 
of the allies — ^Welsh, Mercian, and Norse — who proved such 
particularly sharp thorns in the side of Harold. 

There was another great gift he gave his countrymen besides 
territory. For centuries Wales had been so torn by civil war, 
by foreign attacks, and by piratical raids that she was well- 
nigh losing her self-esteem and self-respect. No nation can 
live for ever by fighting and at the same time retain the arts 
and graces of peace. No people can be for ever oppressed, 
either by a foreign enemy, or by religious intolerance, or 
physical compulsion, or poverty, and retain the national spirit 
wliich is necessary before a collection of human beings can 
call itself a nation. So it was with Wales. The signs were 
not wanting that a break-up was imminent. Her poetry 
had gone. Her kings had gone. Her princes were furiously 
squabbling one with another. Her priests had lost their grip 
on her rulers. A Welsh prince could join with pagan pirate in 
plundering his neighbours. Her most fertile lands, once ravaged, 
remained deserted. Civil war was becoming almost perpetual. 

All that was, for the time being, altered by Gruff ydd. He 
was a strong man and an able soldier. He united the various 
principalities once more, and he showed the Welsh that with 
the aid of an intelligent foreign policy they were still a nation 
capable of united action, capable of dealing shrewd blows that 
made it necessary for the English king to have a care how Wales 
was treated. In the years to come the spirit he had instilled 

M 177 



HISTORY OF WALES 

into his countrymen was not able to save Wales from conquest 
— geographically her eventual absorption by England was 
inevitable — but it enabled her to make a magnificent struggle 
for her freedom, and it gave back to her poets the gift of song, 
so that to-day we can read of the doings of her princes in the 
years which follow on the commencement of the Norman 
Conquest. The bad old period of silent, listless apathy is 
gone. For the years which follow we have to treat of many 
battles, of many deaths, of much misery, but the tale is not so 
squalid as heretofore. The period we have passed has been an 
ugly one of internecine strife. We now turn to an era which 
has many grim doings belonging to it, but no longer does 
civil war well-nigh monopolize the story as told in the chronicles. 
For a few years after the break-up consequent upon the death 
of Gruffydd many struggles take place between Welshman 
and Welshman, but, finally and after the inevitable relapse, the 
national spirit becomes more evident and more permanent. 
We have at last a nation fighting against a national enemy, 
and that at least lifts the story to a higher plane and makes 
the very wars themselves more glorious. 



178 



CHAPTER XI 

FROM THE DEATH OF GRUFFYDD AP 

LLYWELYN TO THE DEATH OF OWAIN 

OF POWYS 

(1063-1116) 

"T 'T T TITH the death of Gruff ydd ap lylywelyn we find Wales 

\ \ / again broken up into a number of fragments, 

VV each controlled, from time to time, by its own 

particular prince, or princes, or claimants, who found it 

necessary, apparently, to fight continually one with another 

in support of their claims or pretensions. 

The campaign of Harold would seem to have had far-reaching 
effects and to have reduced the Welsh polity from one of some 
sort of coherence to a mere congregation of hostile tribal 
lordlings, each having but few ideas beyond his own selfish 
interests, or the planning of occasional acts of violence and 
plunder. As a consequence the history of Wales for the next 
few years is petty, and the parts played by its ruling princes, 
with but one exception, none too noble. 

Before we pass to a consideration of these Welsh chieftains 
it is desirable to consider the steps which were taken by the 
enemies of Wales to secure the fruits of Harold's victories. 

Harold himself was, as we might expect, the first to follow 
up his triumphs. Some two years after the death of Gruffydd 
we find him again in Gwent. Apparently he was not opposed, 
and it may be that the expedition was one of pleasure. We 
find him ordering the building of a hunting-lodge at Portskewet 
— so satisfied was he that his enemies were quite subdued. 
The result showed how mistaken he was in so thinking ; and in- 
deed he must have been of a singularly sanguine temperament 

179 



HISTORY OF WALES 

or have known little of his enemy who thought the Welsh 
could be subdued in one campaign. No Saxon house at that 
time that was not fully guarded by moat and mound and 
palisade was, if within the borders of Wales, safe from the 
danger [of being plundered by the Welsh. 

It happened as one might have expected. While the 
builders were busy constructing this summer retreat, Caradog, 
Prince of Gwynllwg and Gwent, swooped down from the hills, 
murdered the builders, and carried off everything that was 
portable. Such raids were, of course, of constant occurrence. 
I^ater, when we come to the unhappy reign of lorwerth, we 
shall find Owain and Madog leading regular bands of free- 
booters, who lived entirely on deeds of violence directed 
against anyone, Norman or Welshman, who had property to 
lose. 

The Normans 

With the coming of Duke William and his Norman followers 
the position was somewhat altered. We now enter upon the 
first really organized attempt to capture the whole of the land 
of Wales and to subdue completely the inhabitants. It was a 
struggle which continued intermittently until the final conquest 
of Wales. It was, be it observed, a struggle between Norman 
lords and Welsh princes rather than between Normans and 
Welshmen. A consideration of legal documents and extents 
shows that the under-tenant, the tiller of the soil, the peasant, 
lost little by the change. The dues paid by tenant to lord 
remained the same as before. Their holdings were to a large 
extent undisturbed. The change lay in the fact that the lord 
was Norman Ralph or Richard instead of Welsh Gruffydd 
or Owain. Even the tribal system of land-holding lived on ; 
but the tribal chief looked to a Norman rather than a 
Welsh overlord. These facts should be borne in mind in 
order that the nature of the struggle which lies ahead may be 
appreciated. 

At the outset of our description of the struggle with the 
Norman marcher lords it is desirable to state shortly the 
i8o 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

S3^stem adopted. Wales had on its eastern border three 
important towns, which were the keys to the mihtary position 
as regards North, Bast, and South Wales respectively. These 
towns, Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford, were each placed 
by William in charge of an important Norman baron. Thus 
Chester was given to Hugh the Fat, son of Richard of 
Avranches. Around him were his men, among them Robert, 
later of Rhuddlan, one of his trustiest lieutenants, to whom 
was given in time the honourable but dangerous duty of acting 
the part of castellan to Rhuddlan Castle. Robert fitz Hugh, 
of Malpas, and William Malbanc of Nantwich were other 
under-tenants who held important estates round Chester with 
the duty of keeping them safe. 

At Shrewsbury was placed the great Roger Montgomery, 
founder of a famous house, a personal friend of Duke William, 
and one of the leaders of the invasion. Around him were 
placed as under-lords Ralph Mortimer, founder of a still more 
famous line, Warin the Bald, William Pantulf of Corbet, and 
Robert of Sai. Descendants of these still hold broad acres 
in Shropshire and on the borders. 

At Hereford we find William fitz Osbern, lord of Breteuil, 
a relative of William. He too had around him friends and 
retainers. His knights it was who built castles at Monmouth, 
Wigmore, Clifford, and Kwias Harold. 

These, then, were the men who commenced the castling of 
Wales, which in course of time at last overcame that stubborn 
resistance which the Britons at all times made when their 
liberty or their lands were threatened with conquest. Some 
have portrayed them as men licentious and cruel almost 
past belief, delighting in torture and murder. To say so is to 
hold the balance unfairly. They were men of high passions 
and courage, equally careless of their own lives and those of 
their enemies — as civilized at least as the Welsh, who offer to 
history the spectacle of a prince blinding his brother to seize 
his inheritance, and of a leader of men holding back with the 
sharp spears of his retainers one whom every sentiment of 
loyalty should have made him reverence, so that he dropped, 

i8i 



HISTORY OF WALES 

burnt and lifeless, in the fiery ruins from which he was en- 
deavouring to escape. The times were savage, and the men 
on both sides were fitted to the period in which they 
lived. 

The most considerable advance in the occupation of Wales 
by the marcher lords was made at first by William fitz Osbern. 
But before either he or the leaders in Chester and Shrewsbury 
were free to pursue their campaigns against the Welsh it was 
necessary to deal with the equally hostile forces of Mercia. 
Thus in 1067 we find Bleddyn and Rhiwallon joining forces 
with Kadric, an important Mercian lord. They jointly 
attacked Hereford Castle itself, but with little result. In the 
next year we find Eadric and Edwin of Mercia, Morcar of 
Northumbria, and Bleddyn of Wales combining together. 
These allies formed a serious opposition of more than border 
importance, so that King William himself was forced to lead 
an army against them. Bdwin grew frightened and made 
peace, but the others continued the struggle and attacked 
Shrewsbury. This was before William had had time to march 
his army to the scene of battle. In 1070 we find him at 
Chester, having marched through winter across the Pennines. 
With his appearance serious resistance was abandoned. Kadric 
made terms, and Bleddyn returned once more to Wales. 

As we shall see later, this Bleddyn became sole prince of 
Powys and Gwynedd in 1070 as the result of the death of his 
brother, Rhiwallon. At the same time, or even earlier, 
Maredudd ap Owain was lord of Deheubarth. The Brut y 
Tywysogion ^ tells us that in 1072 this Maredudd was killed by 
Caradog ap Gruffydd — who had already distinguished himself 
by the murder of Harold's workmen — and the French on the 
banks of the river Rhymney. The French here referred to by 
the chronicler were the followers of William fitz Osbern, who, 
as a result of the campaign of that year, would appear to have 
obtained dominion over the whole of Gwent — a curious result if 
Caradog was in truth his all}^ since Caradog was lord of Gwent. 

It is probably about this time that the castles at Monmouth 

* We give the correct dates. The Brut is still behind in its dates. 
182 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

and Chepstow were built. From these as centres we find 
William fitz Osbern pushing north and west in an effort to 
reduce the country lying between the Taff and the Usk. These 
successes were destined to be the last achieved by fitz Osbern, 
for in the next year he was slain in battle in Flanders. 

Although the old leader was dead the Normans advanced. 
In 107 1 we read of the French ravaging Ceredigion and Dyfed, 
and again in the year following Ceredigion was made the 
object of attack. The turn came with the rebellion, or 
attempted rebellion, of Roger, Barl William's heir, who was 
discovered in a plot against his royal master. The result was 
the fall of the house of fitz Osbern and the checking for a 
time of the Norman occupation of South Wales. 

We must now journey north to Roger Montgomery's castle 
at Shrewsbury. Of the border battles which he fought we 
have no clear account. Perhaps the most important event 
was the building of the castle at Iv'C^uvre — the commencement 
of the Norman power at Oswestry. There were doubtless 
many attempts made on Powys. Roger was not the man to 
sleep while others fought, and we have evidence that certain 
territorial advantages were gained by the Normans, while 
other parts which in times past had been recovered by the 
Welsh from the Mercians were recaptured by the Normans. 
Thus the district round Chirbury became one of Roger's many 
manors. He also built the castle of Montgomery. 

Yet farther north Fat Hugh of Chester, aided mainly by 
his trusty lieutenant, Robert of Rhuddlan, was pushing slowly 
along the North Welsh coast. Castle Rhuddlan, which once 
had housed Gruff ydd ap lylywelyn, had now become a Norman 
stronghold. Robert had from this centre waged successful 
war against Gwynedd, so that Rhos and Rhufoniog were in 
his power and a castle was being built at royal Deganwy. Of 
the many fights which led to these results we have but few 
chronicled. It is not to be believed, however, that the Welsh 
princes saw their rights thus ruthlessly swept away without 
many an effort made to stem the tide. We do know, however, 
something of the end of Robert, He had been absent from 

1855 



HISTORY OF WALES 

his lordship taking part in the disputes which arose on the 
death of WilHam in 1087, and did not return until 1088. He 
found that in his absence the Welsh had ravaged his lands. 
One day in the summer of that year, while asleep after dinner 
in Deganwy Castle, he was awakened to find the Welsh pillaging 
the surrounding country — or shall we say recovering their own 
by way of plunder ? Already much cattle and many women 
and children — these latter destined, probably, for the slave- 
markets of Ireland — were being hurried on board vessels which 
lay at anchor in the bay. Realizing that instant action was 
necessary, and impatient of waiting for the arrival of his hastily 
summoned retainers, he hastened in pursuit, accompanied only 
by a solitary knight. Such rash bravery had an inevitable 
sequel. Unprotected by armour as he was, he made an easy 
target for the arrows of the Welsh — in later times, and perhaps 
then, the finest bowmen in the world. Pierced by arrow 
after arrow, he died on a mountain path leading to the shore. 
His head was severed from his body, as was usual in the case 
of a defeated or slaughtered chief in those days, and was 
carried off in triumph by his enemies. 

Robert of Rhuddlan seems to have been a capable, brave, 
and energetic leader. His death, however, did not stay the 
Norman forward movement. Hugh the Fat pushed on 
through Arvon as far as Mon. He built castles at Caernarvon, 
Bangor, and Aber Ivleiniog, in Mon. In 1092 Bangor owned a 
Breton bishop, and grants were made by Hugh of manors in 
Rhos and Anglesey. 

We must now leave the marcher lords and their doings in 
order to retrace our steps and give some short account of the 
Welsh princes who occupy the stage during these early 
struggles. The first of the native leaders of whom we shall 
speak is that Bleddyn whom we left returning to his country 
after the breakdown of the alliance with the Mercians. 

Bleddyn ap Cynvyn 

This Bleddyn of whom we are now speaking was the one 
Welsh prince of the period who showed any real capacity for 
184 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

governing on the grand scale. The son of Cynvyn, he had 
earHer made submission to Harold. At that time he shared 
with his brother the territories of Powys and Gwynedd, and, 
as we shall see, he was at once capable in time of war and 
mild and just in time of peace. 

One of the first entries in the Chronicles of the Princes after 
the landing of William of Normandy tells us of a battle fought 
between Bleddyn and Rhiwallon on the one side and Maredudd 
and Ithel, sons of Gruffydd, on the other. This battle, fought 
at Mechain in 1070, resulted in the death of both of Gruffydd's 
sons, Ithel being killed in battle and Maredudd dying of 
exposure during his flight. On the other side Rhiwallon was 
also slain, so that as a result of this single engagement we 
have two of the most formidable of Bleddyn' s opponents 
removed, and Bleddyn left in sole possession of considerable 
territories extending over North and Bast Wales. Deheu- 
barth, the third important member of the Welsh principalities, 
was in the hands of Maredudd ap Owain, grandson of Edwin, 
and a nephew of that Howel ap Edwin whom Gruffydd had 
defeated some twenty years before. As we have seen, this 
Maredudd was also killed in battle some few years afterward 
by a combination of forces including both Normans and Welsh. 
It is always difficult to judge of the merits or demerits 
of a prince of whom we know so little as Bleddyn. From 
the few facts we possess concerning him and his reign it 
is evident, however, that he was superior to most of his 
contemporaries. 

We have seen that he had twice attempted to unite with 
the more important leaders of the Mercians. The alliances 
came to little because of the timidity of the Saxons. His 
position was not made stronger by the fact that he had to 
cope with insurrection at home, a revolt or rebellion which, 
as we have seen, was put down by the battle of Mechain. Of 
his other battles, which were doubtless fought against the 
Normans, we know but little. It is significant, however, that 
the house of Montgomery achieved least of all of the three 
great Norman families during this period. We know that he 

185 



HISTORY OF WALES 

was a lawgiver and that lie made extensive changes in the 
laws of Howel Dha relating to Venedotia. Thus he altered 
the quantities of land assigned to each at the various divi- 
sions among heirs, and established an alternative method of 
obtaining satisfaction from a thief. He seems to have been 
beloved by his fellow-countrymen, for on his death at the 
hand of Rhys ap Owain, chief of Ystrad Tywi, " through the 
deceit of evil-minded chieftains," the chronicler refers to him 
as " the man who after Gruff ydd, his [half] brother, nobly sup- 
ported the whole kingdom of the Britons." Again we read 
that he was " the mildest and most merciful of the kings, and 
[one] who would injure no one unless offended, and when 
offended, it was against his will that he then avenged 
the offence. He was gentle to his relatives, and was a 
defender of the orphans, the helpless, and the widows. [He] 
was the supporter of the wise, the honour and glory of the 
churches. . . . Generous to all, terrible in war and amiable 
in peace." 

On his death in 1075 he left as heirs five sons — ^Madog and 
Rhiryd, who were both slain in 1088, Cadwgan and lorwerth, 
who both survived until mi, and Maredudd. Rhiryd had a 
son, Madog, of whom, in conjunction with Cadwgan's son, 
Owain, we shall have to speak when we come to consider the 
doings of those two lawless young men. Bleddyn's fifth son, 
Maredudd, died in 1132, and transmitted the rights of his 
family to many future generations 

Gruffydd ap Cynan and Trahaearn 

The year 1075 brought into prominence another Welsh 
prince — Gruffydd ap Cynan, half Dane, half Welshman, 
who in the years to come was destined to wage almost 
continual war on the Normans. In the year of Bleddyn's 
death we find Gruffydd directing an attack upon Rhuddlan 
Castle. The attempt seems to have been but partially 
successful. The outworks were destroyed, but the keep 
remained secure. Rhuddlan was still in Norman hands, though 
despoiled. 
186 




< 

W tan 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

Of this Gruffydd we shall treat at greater length in a 
subsequent chapter. To interpose an account of his life here 
would be to destroy what continuity there is in our treatment 
of these disjointed times. 

After the success of 1075 we find his own people revolting 
against Gruffydd on account of the large number of Irish 
mercenaries which he kept around him. We read of the men 
of Lleyn murdering fifty-two of these Irish as they lay 
sleeping. Gruffydd, alarmed, hastily collected his men and 
prepared to defend himself. This was in Arvon. 

Gruffydd's difficulties gave an opportunity to Trahaearn, 
chief of Arwystli, who early in 1075 had aspired to the princi- 
pality of Gwynedd, only to be defeated in the battle of the 
Bloody Acre. Trahaearn now resolved to wipe out that 
defeat and make one more attempt to gain Gwynedd for 
himself. He entered into an alliance with Gwrgeneu ap 
Seisyll of Powys. The opposing forces met at Bron yr Erw, 
as the allies were descending from the mountains into the 
plain of Arvon. Gruffydd's small force was overwhelmed, he 
himself escaping to Ireland. 

The result of this eventful year was at once to raise up 
Grufiydd to the position of prince and cast him down to the 
level of an exile. His conqueror, Trahaearn, became ruler of 
Gwynedd, and remained such until 1081. He seems to have 
quarrelled with his erstwhile ally, Gwrgeneu, since we find 
that chieftain acting as guide to the Normans through the 
mountains of Eryri, with the result that that part of Wales 
was very thoroughly ravaged. 

Rhys ap Owain 

We must now turn for a moment to South Wales. The 
prince who ruled there about the time of Bleddyn's death 
was Rhys ap Owain, who had succeeded the Maredudd slain 
by Caradog. He it was who fought against Bleddyn in the 
last fatal battle. In 1078 we find Trahaearn leading an army 
against Rhys and fighting the battle of PwU Gwdyg, identified 
with Goodwick, near Fishguard. In this fight we are told that 

187 



HISTORY OF WALES 

" all the family of Rhys fell, and he himself became a fugitive, 
like a timid stag before the hounds, through the thickets and 
the rocks." There must have been a considerable slaughter 
among the " family of Rhys," since we find the younger son 
of a younger branch succeeding him, and this, apparently, 
without opposition. 

Rhys ap Owain we have left as a fugitive after the battle of 
Goodwick. His death took place later in the same year, he 
and his brother, Howel, being killed by the same lawless 
Caradog who had slain Maredudd of Deheubarth. Rhys ap 
Tewdwr succeeded him, and we find him defending his realm 
against Caradog. 

We now pass to the year 1081. In that year occurred the 
decisive battle of Carn Mountain, a battle which disposed of 
Trahaearn and Caradog and established Gruffydd ap Cynan 
and Rhys ap Tewdwr on the thrones of Gwynedd and Deheu- 
barth respectively. In Powys the sons of Bleddyn were in 
authority. 

We now propose to trace out the events which befell in 
the reigns of Rhys ap Tewdwr and the sons of Bleddyn. 
We reserve our account of the life of Gruff ydd, as we have 
said, for a later chapter. 

Rhys ap Tewdwr 

Rhys ap Tewdwr was a direct descendant of Howel Dha, 
being an offshoot of the cadet branch of the house of Hinion.^ 
He succeeded to the throne of Deheubarth after Rhys and 
Howel, the sons of Owain — a senior branch of the same family 
— ^had been slain by Caradog as above mentioned. It was not 
long, however, before a rival claimant appeared in the person 
of that same Caradog. Rhys seems to have been driven from 
his lands for the time being, according to the story given us 
in the Hanes Gruffydd ap Cynan. We next hear of his joining 
forces with Gruffydd on that prince's return from Ireland. 
The allies were completely successful in disposing of their 
various rivals, Gruffydd getting rid of Trahaearn and Rhys 

^ Einion, it may be remembered, was grandson to Howel Dha. 
188 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

of Caradog in the great battle of Mynydd Carn.^ This victory, 
won in 1081, established Rhys, so far as Welsh rivals were 
concerned, safely in Deheubarth, but about this time he had 
to cope with a more serious enemy. It was in this year that 
William I visited Wales. The goal for which he made was 
St. David's, but whether it was a pilgrimage, as the Annates 
Cambriae would have us believe, or a military punitive 
expedition, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle regards it, and as the 
probabilities incline us to believe, the result was very similar — 
the Normans saw that South Wales could be subdued and was 
worth conquering. They commenced to look with covetous 
eyes upon this part of Wales, and in the later years of Rhys' 
reign they wrought sad havoc in his principality. 

That Wilham visited St. David's shrine is, of course, certain, 
but that he had other motives is shown by the fact that 
shortly afterward this part of Wales is found paying land 
taxes to William to a considerable amount, viz. £40.2 The 
years which followed this journey of William are empty of 
recorded events. During this time it is not improbable that 
the Norman marchers were slowly consolidating their power 
and linking up the system of castles or mottes which enabled 
them in time to subdue well-nigh completely this part of 
Wales. 

On two occasions, however, Rhys had to contend with 
Welsh rather than Norman enemies. In 1088, as we have 
seen, Madog and Rhiryd, of Powys, were both slain. This blow 
to the house of Bleddyn was delivered by Rhys, who, attacked 
by those princes, was at first overwhelmed and driven to take 
refuge in Ireland, from whence returning with paid auxiUaries, 
he reversed the tide of fortune, destroying the hopes of Powys 
by the slaughter of two of its princes. In 1091 he met an 
insurrection raised in support of the claims of Gruffydd ap 
Maredudd, a younger member of a senior branch of the house 

1 Since Gruffydd was the leader and Rhys merely his supporter — and one 
who took very little part in the battle — we reserve our treatment of this 
victory until we reach an account of Gruffydd and his times. 

2 We are entirely indebted for this to Professor Lloyd's History of Wales, 
vol. ii, p. 394. 

189 



; HISTORY OF WALES 

of Einioii, and at the battle of lylandydoch again made good 
his position by the defeat and death of the pretender. i 

So far Rhys had been successful in retaining in his hands the 
right to rule over Deheubarth. In 1093, however, a movement 
commenced which swept away his power, his life, and the 
complete independence of South Wales. As we have already 
said, the Normans had not improbably been slowly consolidating 
their power in this part of Wales. What exactly led up to 
the campaign of 1093 is extremely doubtful. Powel, working 
upon the authority of Caradog of Llancarvan, tells us that 
Rhys at the battle of lylandydoch already mentioned defeated 
lylywelyn and Einion.^ Binion fled to lestyn of Morgannwg. 
This chieftain offered his daughter in marriage to Kinion, 
requiring in return that Binion should bring Normans to 
lestyn's aid in his quarrel with Rhys. Binion was successful 
in persuading Robert fitz Hamon, the builder of Cardiff 
Motte, to join the rebellious Welsh and to bring with him 
many Norman knights and followers. The allies were vic- 
torious : Rhys' territories were ravaged — Rhys, attempting to 
stay the onward march of the destroyers, met them in battle, 
but was defeated and slain. The Normans were paid off and 
returned to their ships. Binion now claimed his promised 
bride. lestyn, however, having obtained the revenge he sought, 
laughed to scorn the hopeful suitor, and Binion, enraged, 
called back the Normans, despoiled the fertile lands of Dyfed — 
and received in return the barren and rough places,the Normans 
taking for themselves the fertile valleys. It is to this conquest 
that Caradog would have us trace the first important advance 
made by the Normans into South Wales. It may be taken, 
however, that these Norman successes were not the work of 
one short campaign or of one or two battles. Between the 
years 1091-1093 Brycheiniog was being conquered. Cardiff 
Motte 2 had already been built. What is probable is that the 

^ It is questionable whether this word can be used in this connexion. To 
us Gruflfydd appears to have a better claim by birth than Rhys. 

2 They were the sons of Cediver of Dyfed, and supporters and inciters of 
Gruffydd. 

^ The castle proper belongs to a later time. 
190 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

continual disputes between the various Welsh leaders greatly 
strengthened the hands of the Normans and enabled them to 
make advances which, had the Welsh been united, would have 
been impossible. 

The Powysian Anarchy 

Under this title we shall consider the history of Powys from 
the death of Bleddyn in 1075 to the deaths of Cadwgan and 
lorwerth in mi. Bleddyn appears to have been succeeded 
by his sonsMadog, Rhiryd, Cadwgan, lorwerth, and eventually 
Maredudd. Of these Madog and Rhiryd were slain in battle 
by Rhys ap Tewdwr in 1088, as we have seen. Cadwgan and 
lorwerth seem to have been weak rulers, and throughout their 
reign they were continually harassed by the lawless actions of 
Madog ap Rhiryd and Owain, Cadwgan's son. In 1093, as 
we have said, Rhys had been killed by the Normans, who 
ravaged Dyfed and Ceredigion and fortified many castles. 
To this period of encroachment we may perhaps assign the 
attempt at building the castle of Aberhonddu. We next find 
the Welsh, during the temporary absence of the Normans, 
destroying Norman castles in Gwynedd, and the Normans 
retaliating with an attack upon Gwynedd. We find Cadwgan 
ap Bleddyn resisting the attack successfully. In the same 
year the Welsh destroyed all the castles in Ceredigion and 
Dyfed except two — Pembroke and Rhyd y Gors. This 
expedition was^probably led by Cadwgan ; and, whether it was 
a patriotic attempt to break the power of the Normans in the 
south or a mere plundering expedition, the result was the same 
for the unhappy population, for we are told that Cadwgan 
brought away all the people and cattle from Dyfed, leaving 
Dyfed and Ceredigion a desert. 

The next move made by this Prince of Powys was to attack 
the castle of Pembroke. It does not appear that he succeeded 
in capturing it, but it was " despoiled " and all its cattle were 
seized by the Briton. Gerald of Pembroke, the castellan, 
retaliated by ravaging Menevia. The Normans now made an 
important move in the north with the object of capturing 

191 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Anglesey. Of this we shall treat when we come to the reign 
of Gruffydd ap Cynan. We find, however, Cadwgan leagued 
with Gruff ydd in opposition to the Normans. The Welsh 
leaders seem to have had to contend with treachery on the 
part of their followers, and both Cadwgan and Gruflydd fled 
to Ireland in fear of their lives. They returned some two years 
later — that is to say, about 1099. Peace was made with the 
Normans, largely because of the energy of Gruffydd and the 
death of Hugh of Chester, as we shall see. Cadwgan now 
became Prince of Ceredigion and part of Powys, with the 
consent of Robert of Belleme, now Karl of Shrewsbury, who 
had succeeded his brother in 1098. 

It was this Robert who in 1102, as a sequel to his attempts 
to create an imperium in imperio, was summoned by King 
Henry to answer the charges of disloyalty which were being 
made against him. Robert evidently felt unable to explain 
his conduct, and so we find him in open rebellion, fortifying 
his castles at Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth, Tickhill in Yorkshire, 
and Arundel in Sussex. At the same time he entered into an 
alliance with the sons of Bleddyn, Cadwgan, lorwerth, and 
Maredudd. The allies are found pillaging Staffordshire, the 
Welsh princes conveying the booty to their mountain fast- 
nesses. Robert's brother Arnulf was also a confederate, and 
he brought with him probably the men of Dyfed and Irish 
mercenaries. Henry I was not the man to tolerate such a 
state of affairs, and he hastened to attack Arundel and Tickhill. 
The reduction of the well-nigh impregnable fortress of Bridg- 
north was a far more difficult matter, and a prolonged siege 
was almost out of the question, since it would have left the 
whole of the Welsh border at the mercy of the confederates. 
We find Henry, therefore, resorting to a mixture of bribery 
and strategy. Through his agent, William Pantulf, he 
approached lorwerth, and succeeded in weaning him from 
the other associates with bright promises of future power. 
As the chronicler of Ivlanbadarn Fawr, who was prejudiced 
in favour of the|house of Bleddyn, admits, the king pro- 
mised lorwerth more than he could obtain from the earls. 
192 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

He adds : " the portion he ought to have of the land of the 
Britons . . . the king gave to lorwerth ap Bleddyn, whilst 
the king should live, free, without homage and without pay- 
ment ; and that was Powys and Ceredigion, and the half of 
Dyfed, as the other half had been given to the son of Baldwin, 
with the Vale of Tywi and Gower and Cydweli." The offer 
was sufficient to make lorwerth a traitor to his brothers and 
to Robert. He despoiled his ally, and the moral blow which 
Robert suffered on finding himself thus betrayed resulted in 
his abandoning what he now realized was a hopeless struggle. 
The Welsh chronicler throws light on this apparently sudden 
surrender. Robert was evidently taken completely by surprise, 
for we read that " the earl had previously commanded trust 
to be put in the Britons, not imagining that he should experi- 
ence any opposition from them ; and so he had sent all 
his dairies and cattle and riches amongst the Britons." 
The writer of the Brut seems to have felt that lorwerth's 
action needed an apology, for he accuses Robert of folly for 
so trusting his one-time enemies " without reflecting upon 
the insults the Britons had received from his father, Roger, 
and from Hugh, his father's brother, which the Britons kept 
in mind." 

Not only was Robert surprised, but Cadwgan and Maredudd 
were also ignorant of the change of front for some time. The 
effect of the defection was, however, very different in the case 
of the Norman and the Welshmen. Robert surrendered 
himself to the king's mercy and was banished from the realm. 
Cadwgan and Maredudd made peace with lorwerth, and it was 
agreed that they should share the dominions which lorwerth 
fondly hoped would soon be his. 

lorwerth had not, however, yet exhausted his capacity for 
treachery. Shortly afterward we find him seizing Maredudd 
and keeping him a close prisoner in the king's prison. In the 
meantime, of course, Arnulf had been brought down in the 
ruin which had fallen on the house of Montgomery, and we 
find Dyfed with the castle of Pembroke surrendered to the 
king. lorwerth now probably anticipated the fulfilment of 

N 193 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Henry's generous promises. He was to learn the worthlessness 
of a promise given to dupe an enemy. 

Instead of being lord of South and East Wales, he was 
cast into prison, " not according to law, but according to 
power," upon some trumped-up charge. Even before this 
Henry had partitioned out the promised lands to others. 
Norman Saer had received Pembroke, while the Vale of Tywi, 
Gower, and Cydweli were given to Howel ap Goronwy. Powys 
and Ceredigion had alone been left to be divided between the 
sons of Bleddyn. With lorwerth's fall we find Cadwgan in 
control of those regions. 

In the next year Richard fitz Baldwin restored the castle 
of Rhyd y Gors, which had been demolished, and tightened 
his hold on Dyfed. Howel ap Goronwy was in the same 
year driven from his lands, not improbably by the Normans, 
for we find him pillaging the Vale of Tywi and the district 
round the castle of Rhyd y Gors. In the year following 
he was the victim of a base plot which resulted in his death. 
The story as told us by the compiler of the Brut y Tywysogion 
is worth repeating in the chronicler's own words. There 
we read that " Gwgawn ap Meurig, the person who was 
nurturing a son of Howel, and whom of all men he mostly 
trusted, formed the plot in this wise : Gwgawn called Howel, 
and invited him into his house, and sent to the castle and 
called the French to him, and showed them their appointed 
place, to wait till a certain time in the night. So they came 
about daybreak, and surrounded theTiamlet and the house in 
which Howel was, and gave a shout ; and with that shout 
Howel promptly awaked, and sought for his arms, and waked 
and called his companions. And the sword which he had 
placed on the top of his bed and the spear at his feet had 
been taken away by Gwgawn, whilst he was asleep. Howel 
sought for his companions to fight, supposing them to be 
ready ; but they had fled, probably at the first hour of the 
night ; and then he also was compelled to flee. And Gwgawn 
pursued him warily, till iie had taken him, as he had promised. 
And when Gwgawn's companions came to him they strangled 
X94 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

Howel ; and brought him, strangled and almost dead, to the 
French, who, after cutting off his head, returned to the castle." 
Thus ended Howel's brief chieftaincy. 

On the Norman side Saer, the holder of Pembroke, seems to 
have offended Henry in some way, for he was relieved of 
his castle in 1105, the charge being handed over to Gerald, 
whom we have already mentioned. 

OwAiN AND Nest 

Gerald had married into the royal house of Deheubarth, 
his wife being Nest vz Rhys ap Tewdwr, and we find him 
extending his power in another direction by building a castle 
at lyittle Cenarch. But neither the favour of Henry nor his 
own territorial rights nor his Welsh connexion could save 
him from the dishonour which Owain, the son of Cadwgan, 
heaped upon him in the following year. 

It appears that while Cadwgan was feasting his chieftains 
in the prince's banqueting-hall talk turned after the banquet 
upon the manifold beauties of face and figure of Nest, the Vv^ife 
of the castellan of Pembroke, known to history as ' the Helen 
of Wales.' Owain was of the party, and seems to have decided 
there and then to seize the lady for his own. Collecting a few 
rash spirits around him, he went to the castle, ostensibly on a 
visit of courtesy to Nest, who was his kinswoman. Whether 
this visit was prompted by mere idle curiosity or whether he 
went to see what plans could be made for the intended 
abduction we do not know, but shortly afterward we find him 
coming stealthily by night with some fourteen companions on 
his daring errand. They appear to have succeeded in evading 
the vigilance of the guards and to have burrowed under the 
outer gate, scaled the outer wall, and crossed the moat protect- 
ing the castle. Arrived at the castle walls, they raised an 
alarm of fire, at the same time setting fire to some of the 
surrounding buildings. In the panic which ensued the 
castellan's retainers seem to have deserted, Gerald himself 
being advised by his wife to escape. The bold Owain seized 
his opportunity, rushed to Nest's apartment, and carried 

19s 



HISTORY OF WALES 

lier off, together with her children, to some stronghold in 
Ceredigion. 

This escapade, though we cannot but recognize the reckless 
bravery of Owain and his men in storming one of Wales's 
strongest fortresses with so insignificant a force — and he 
succeeded in practically destroying the castle by fire — ^had the 
obvious result of bringing down the wrath of King Henry, and, 
in a more personal sense, of Gerald, upon him and his house. 
For the next few years he and his cousin Madog lived the life 
of outlaws, and were a sore thorn in the side of Cadwgan and 
lorwerth. Both Madog and Owain ultimately lost their lives 
in the feuds which ensued, Owain falling to the hand of Gerald, 
whom he had so grievously wronged, and who caught him 
unawares. But before this happened the two were destined 
to do many lawless and reckless deeds in Wales. 

Iorwerth's Letter 

In mo lorwerth v/as at last released from prison, after 
having given hostages to Henry for his good behaviour and 
having paid a heavy fine for the privilege of being allowed to 
enter upon his own lands. No sooner had he returned than 
Owain and Madog began to make his position particularly 
uncomfortable by their lawlessness. They were at this time 
what can only be described as the outlawed chiefs of gangs of 
freebooters. They lived by committing crimes of violence, 
always accompanied by robbery or cattle-driving. Their 
energies were directed against the Normans and the English 
for the most part, but they had to make some Welsh place 
their stronghold to which the varied plunder which they took 
could be conveyed. Unluckily for lorwerth, they chose his 
part of Powys for their abode. So disturbed was lorwerth at 
this that we find him addressing the following letter to his 
lawless nephews : " God has delivered us into the hands of 
our enemies, and has brought us down so much that we could 
accomplish nothing of what might be our wish ; it is interdicted 
to all of us Britons to hold any intercourse with you, in 
respect of victuals, or drink, or aid, or support ; but we must 
196 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

search and hunt for you in every place, and ultimately deliver 
you into the hands of the king, to imprison you, or to kill you, 
or to execute you, or to do unto you whatever he would wish. 
And specially has it been commanded of me and Cadwgan 
that we should have no fellowship with you ; for no one can 
suppose but that a father, or an uncle, must desire the welfare 
of his sons and his nephews. Therefore, if we have com- 
munication with you or in the least go contrary to the command 
of the king, we shall lose our territory, and shall be imprisoned 
so that we die, or we shall be killed. Wherefore, I pray you, 
as a friend, and command you, as your lord, and intercede 
with you as a relative, that you go not into my territory nor 
into the territory of Cadwgan any more, nor into the territory 
of other men about us ; because more causes of displeasure 
will be sought for against us, as being blameable, than against 
others." This kindly and sympathetic missive the two 
outlaws ' treated with contempt.' At last, driven to despera- 
tion, lorwerth pursued them with his men, but not successfully, 
though we find Owain soon afterward making Ceredigion his 
centre, Madog remaining in Powys. 

Owain and Madog 

We must now turn back to consider the more immediate 
results of the abduction of Nest. Though strongly urged by 
his father to surrender his unlawful prize, the infatuated 
Owain stubbornly refused to do so. Nest, on her part, seems 
to have been none too anxious to return, though, it is true, she 
succeeded in inducing Owain to allow her children to go back 
to their father — a step which looks as though she contemplated 
attempting to escape and return. Owain' s stubborn refusal to 
make such amends as were in his power brought down upon 
him and Cadwgan the Normans, aided by certain Welsh 
chieftains, including the Madog with whom he was later 
leagued for some time. Cadwgan and Owain were compelled 
to flee to Ireland, where Owain remained for a while, though 
Cadwgan soon returned, and settled on the manor which his 
wife, who was a Norman and a daughter of Robert of Sai, had 

197 



HISTORY OF WALES 

brought him. His lands in Powys and Ceredigion seem to 
have been given to Madog and his brother Ithel, in return 
for their aid in driving Owain from the country. 

Madog, however, already showed the lawless mettle of which 
he was made, and so we find both him and his brother being 
dispossessed of Ceredigion, which was handed back to Cadwgan 
in return for a heavy fine and a solemn promise to render no 
aid to Owain. 

It was about this time that Owain returned and allied 
himself with Madog, who had not improbably been driven out 
of South Powys by Cadwgan, to form the confederacy of which 
we have spoken. At about the same time, or possibly the 
year following (Welsh dates for this period are always rather 
doubtful), lorwerth was released and reinstated. Possibly he 
was given Powys when Cadwgan was given Ceredigion. This 
would account for Madog's attitude. 

However this may be, Madog and Owain now enter upon 
their career of plunder. After Owain had been driven out of 
Powys by lorwerth we find him making Ceredigion his centre. 
From here he harried Dyfed, capturing men, women, and 
children as well as cattle. The former were doubtless shipped 
to Ireland for the slave-markets. 

When next we hear of the two they are together concerned 
in the murder of an important]^ Fleming named William of 
Brabant, whom they waylaid in the highway and slew. At 
this time lorwerth and Cadwgan were at King Henry's court. 
As chance would have it, while the two princes were there 
the brother of William of Brabant, who was also present, 
heard the news of the murder. The king was informed, 
whereupon we read that " he questioned Cadwgan, ' What 
sayest thou concerning that ? ' 'I know not, my lord,' 
replied Cadwgan. Then said the king, ' Since thou canst not 
protect thy territory against the companions ^ of thy son, to 
prevent them from killing my men a second time I shall give 
thy territory to such as will protect it, and thou shalt remain 

^ We must comment on the tact of this speech. The companions were 
blamed, not the son. 

198 



GRUFFYDD TO OWAIN OF POWYS 

with me under this condition, that thou tread not thy native 
soil ; and I will support thee from my table, until I take 
counsel concerning thee.' " The king, having taken counsel, 
seems to have decided to allow Cadwgan one more opportunity. 
This was not, however, until the year following. In the 
meantime Cadwgan was allowed 24^. a day for his wants, and 
Ceredigion was granted to Gilbert fitz Richard, who at once 
took steps to reduce the district to a state of order. We find 
him building two new castles, one opposite Llanbadarn, close 
to the efflux of the river Ystwyth and near the modern 
Aberystwyth, the other at Aberteifi on the site of an earlier 
castle founded either by Barl Robert or Roger de Lacy. 

Madog and Owain seem to have recognized the enormity of 
their offences and to have deemed it safer to quit Wales for 
the time being and retire to Ireland. Madog does not appear 
to have enjoyed himself there very much, for we read of his 
returning shortly afterward because he could not endure the 
savage manners of the people. Owain, however, who had had 
a previous experience of King Murkertagh's court, prolonged 
his stay for some time. 

Madog on his return hastened to re-establish himself in 
Powys. We read, and we can well believe, that " he was not 
received either kindly or mercifully by his uncle lorwerth." 
We find him, therefore, a fugitive, driven from place to place, 
ever attempting to hide from his kinsman. 

Madog evidently believed that the only way out of a 
desperate position was the death of lorwerth. We therefore 
find him hatching a sufficiently infamous plot to bring about 
the desired result. In the words of the chronicler, " When 
lorwerth returned to Caereinion, Madog, with the assistance of 
lylywarch's accomplices, made a night attack upon lorwerth. 
They set up a shout about the house where lorwerth resided ; 
and lorwerth, awakened by the shout, bravely defended the 
house, aided by his companions. Then Madog set fire to the 
house about lorwerth ; and when the companions of lorwerth 
saw that, they sallied out through the fire, and left lorwerth 
in the fire. And he, seeing the house falling, attempted to 

199 



HISTORY OF WALES 

get out, and his enemies received him on the points of their 
spears, greatly burnt, and killed him," 

lorwerth being dead, it became necessary for Henry and 
his ministers to decide to whom his territory should be given. 
For some reason which it is difficult to understand, it was 
decided to grant it to Cadwgan and his son Owain. The 
latter consequently returned from Ireland and was reconciled 
to his father. 

Cadwgan lived but a short while to benefit from his good 
fortune. Madog seems to have surprised him in a lonely place 
near the modern Welshpool, and to have slain him there. 

Madog then had the effrontery to claim Cadwgan's lands. 
He seems to have been granted a small portion, including 
Caereinion, a third of the commote of Deuddwr, and the tref of 
Aberriw. The rest, and by far the major portion, went to Owain. 
Madog's career was now drawing to a close. In 1113 we 
find Maredudd ap Bleddyn, Cadwgan's younger brother, who 
was one of Owain' s military leaders (perhaps he held the 
position of avenger), searching for Madog. He was at last 
successful in meeting one of Madog's companions, v/hom he 
forced by torture to disclose his leader's hiding-place. Mare- 
dudd, having succeeded so far, set spies about the place, and 
in the dawn attacked and caught his enemy, whom he loaded 
with chains and led captive to Owain. The chronicler adds : 
" And he took him with pleasure and blinded him, and they 
divided between them his share of Powys." 

In the next year Henry engaged in his first Welsh campaign, 
directed chiefly against Gruffydd ap Cynan. Owain at first 
retreated to the hills on the approach of the king, but later, 
when peace was made between Gruffydd and Henry, he readily 
submitted. I^ater he accompanied Henry to Normandy, where 
he won his spurs. He was killed in the following year whUe 
still in the king's service. 

Thus ends what we have termed the Powysian anarchy. In 
a later chapter we shall have to deal with times equally 
troublous, but with disputes between Briton and Norman 
rather than between Briton and Briton or father and son. 
200 



CHAPTER XII 
THE WELSH ROMANCES 

WB must now break off from the current of our account 
of the political history of Wales in order to devote 
some attention to the Welsh romantic literature of 
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Throughout this work we 
have thought fit not to limit ourselves to the recounting of 
wars and feuds between princes, of political events or the 
craft of statesmen or politicians. The plan we have adopted has 
been based on the belief that the history of a nation is, in truth, 
the history of its people, its manners, its art, its literature. 
Aristotle said : " Poetry is more philosophical and more 
worthy of serious regard than history." Were history limited 
to the recounting of the deeds of princes we could but agree. 

With this point of view before us we make no apology for 
introducing an account of one of the most extraordinary 
chapters in literary history. Considerations of space forbid 
any detailed recital of the Arthurian legends or of the fables 
of the Mahinogion, but a few pages at least must be devoted 
to an account of the development of stories which, spreading 
out from Wales, influenced the minds and manners of well- 
nigh the whole of Europe, and, transmuted into gold by the 
magic of the poets, troubadours, and minnesingers, created 
that chivalry which was one of the glories of the mediaeval 
period. 

The story of Arthur and his knights, in one form or another, 
has been found scattered over Wales, Cornwall, Strathclyde, 
Brittany, France, Iceland, Scandinavia; the lyow Countries,^ 

^ Morten, an Arthur story found in early Dutch, but probably translated or 
taken from the French, has been translated recently by Miss Jessie Iv. Weston. 

201 



HISTORY OF WALES 

and Germany. In later times it became even more widely 
diffused. Cervantes himself was doubtless satirizing tbese 
stories of a forgotten chivalry when he wrote Don Quixote. 
With the Jews they became very popular, and we have pre- 
served to us several Arthurian stories belonging to Hebrew- 
German literature, as Dr. lyco Landau has told us. 

We must now attempt to sketch out quite shortly the 
origin, or rather what modern authorities think is the origin, 
of this cycle of stories. We must also trace the steps which 
led Arthur and his knights, king of Faery and his courtiers, 
through the written script of the poet to a wider conquest 
than even that assigned by Geoffrey of Monmouth to the 
pseudo-historical sixth-century king. 

The Origin of the Arthur Legends 

There are three theories at present in the field concerning 
the origin of these legends. These theories may be roughly 
stated as follows : (i) The Arthur legends are a product of 
nature- worship ; (2) they are not of pagan origin ; (3) they 
are the result of a combination of stories, some pagan, some 
Christian, some belonging to Faery, some purely romantic, 
and some partly historical. Thus some believe that the story 
of the Grail has a Christian origin, but in our opinion Miss 
Weston has destroyed this theory. It is doubtful, however, 
whether her explanation of the Grail by connecting it with 
the ritual of the Adonis cult is altogether acceptable. Miss 
Weston has spent many years in the study of this fascinating 
subject, and is so well versed in all its many ramifications that 
one must, of course, regard her utterances with every respect ; 
but to the present writer it seems that all these stories are of 
an extremely composite nature, and cannot be traced entirely, 
or even mainly, to any one source. Thus that Arthur was a 
culture-hero is probable ; it is also probable that he was a 
fairy king. We have, in other words, to deal with a saga 
that developed, not in one year, in one mind, in one country, 
but during centuries, as the result of constant alteration, 
constant improvement or debasement by many bards, and 

202 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

with the addition of stories pleasant to the palate of princes 
in at least three countries — Ireland, Wales, Brittany. 

This being so, may it not be that the Arthurian legends are 
a mixture of stories arising out of the old nature religion and 
of Faerj'' stories imported, not improbably, from Ireland, and 
of folk-stories which have lived in all countries in all ages ? 
If this be so it is necessary to add that Arthur is a hero foreign 
to Ireland ; it is the fairy part so prominent in some of the 
stories of the Mahinogion which is Irish. It must also be 
understood that the amorous note was never, or but rarely, 
present in the Irish and Welsh stories. That came from France, 

We think it may be taken that the genuine old Arthur 
stories are connected with nature-worship, and probably with 
that type of nature-worship called sun-worship. It is possible, 
and we think probable, that in the first place the tales from 
which the Arthurian sagas were derived were based on the 
worship of some culture-hero or some sun-god, whether the 
Egyptian Arten,^ the Gaulish Artio or Artius, the Greek Zeus 
or Adonis, or some other god who had a place in the system 
of some early polytheistic state. To these ancient stories 
were added in later times, when the old order of things was 
passing away and the bards were casting around for some new 
material which would at once be full of fancy and yet free 
from the danger of giving offence to their now Christian 
masters, fairy stories or folk-stories, or pure nature myths 
based not on the worship, but on the observation and love 
of the beauties of the field, the hill, the dale, and the swift- 
flowing river. To these again were added stories of the chase, 
of combat, of the brave doings of princes — doubtless the 
master of the bard who was singing. To take an example of 
stories of this composite character we may cite Kilhwch 
and Olwen. Here undoubtedly the substratum story was the 
great boar-hunt. The inner meaning of this legend has been 
sought after diligently, particularly by Sir John Rhys, who 

* So far as we know, it has never yet been suggested that Arten and Arthur 
are connected. In view of what we have said in the earlier chapters of this 
history, we see no reason why Arthur should be regarded as less akin to 
Egyptian Arters than to Greek Adonis. 

203 



HISTORY OF WALES 

has lavished ingenuity upon its elucidation ; but to us it is 
still an enigma. What is clear is that it is ancient. Nennius 
knew of it, and it bears every sign of being pre-Roman.i Mr. 
Alfred Nutt beUeves that the story of the boar-hunt or Twrch 
Trwyth is prehistoric in the literal sense. To this early tale 
the later bards seem to have added innumerable fairy stories 
and tales of chivalry. As Mr. Nutt points out, the story as 
we have it to-day is fragmentary, but even these fragments 
are clearly not the produce of one mind or of one age. Around 
the central core many a tale has been grouped. Some of these 
are fairy tales concerned with Arthur, king of Faery. 

Thus we see that it is at any rate possible that the Arthur 
stories are in origin nature stories, to which were added first 
fairy stories, later tales of bravery, and still later, when the 
troubadours were singing at the bidding of their royal 
mistresses, tales of love. 

If this be acceptable to the reader, it would seem that, 
granted these are British stories — and, as we shall see, it is 
probable that they are— the Arthurian cycle and the Mahinogion 
tales are but developments of ancient Druidic myths originating 
in the first place as stories woven round natural events, even 
as the Greeks evolved their wonderful mythology from a 
poetic consideration of clouds and sunshine, rivers and 
mountains, and nature generally. According to this theory, 
as time went on the old nature myths or sun-god myths were, 
as was natural, identified with some individual man. Why 
Arthur was the name chosen we do not know. Who Arthur 

^ Reference may be made in this connexion to the reproduction of the 
sepulchral urn facing this page. This is the urn in which, according to that 
eminent antiquary Sir R. C. Hoare, " there is every reason to suppose the 
ashes of Bronwen (White Bosom), the daughter of I,lyr, and aunt to the 
great Caractacus, were deposited." In the tale in the Mabinogion entitled 
Branwen the Daughter of Llyr, after Bronwen had died of a broken heart 
because Ireland and the Island of the Mighty had been desolated, " they 
made her a four-sided grave, and buried her upon the banks of the Alaw." 
The place was known before the discovery of this urn as Ynys Bronwen, 
'the Islet of Bronwen.' If this urn did indeed hold the ashes of Bronwen it 
shows that these tales are ancient and are, to some extent at least, woven 
round actual persons, but a reference to the tale itself will convince the 
reader that they contain much besides and apart from actual historical 
happenings. 

204 




i|rtTii7li:n{iiiiiii'i iii i nm vt " i r-WfM 




-( 




PI.ATE XXXIII. The SEPUI.CHRAI, Urn which Contained the 
Ashes of Bronwen 



204 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

was, if he lived at all, we do not know, save that the early- 
historians, commencing with Nennius, state that he was 
Emperor of the Britons. Welsh literature always refers to 
Arthur the man as amherawdyr, or emperor, not gwledig, or 
prince. If this title has its origin in fact, in the actual 
existence of a man who ruled in Britain, he probably held the 
office of Comes Britanniae in succession to the Roman generals, 
who, with their legionaries, had left Britain for ever. In an 
earlier chapter we have considered whether he can be regarded 
as an actual person. For our present purpose, whether he 
was or was not is quite immaterial. We treat these legends 
for the present as myths.^ 

As an illustration of the arguments which have been 
adduced to prove a ' prehistoric ' origin for these stories, we 
give in outline Sir John Rhys' analysis of the older stories of 
Arthur and the myth relating to Airem (' the Farmer ' or * Plough- 
man'), who is represented in Irish story as King of Ireland. 
Now Airem had a most lovely queen, Btain (' the Shining One '). 
So beautiful was she that, like the Venus of the Greeks, she 
was regarded as perfection, so that to say ' as fair as Etain ' 
was to reach the limit of praise. But she was no dark beauty. 
Her loveliness was that of the blonde. She was the lovely 
Fair Woman. 

The third person of importance in the Irish story was Mider. 
Mider was King of the Fairies. He, like other men, after 
beholding Etain fell violently in love with her, and attempted 
to persuade her to leave Airem and go away with him. 
Etain refused at first, but afterward consented, if Mider could 
win Airem's consent. 

The story then relates how Mider played chess with Airem 
for stakes to be fixed by the winner. At first Mider lost, and 
v/as required to do various tasks with the aid of his fairy 
subjects, but afterward he won, and then demanded from 
Airem that he should be allowed to put his arms round the 
queen in the middle of the court and kiss her. Airem would 

1 It will make greatly for clarity of view if the reader, when considering the 
Arthurian legends, forgets completely that there ever was a British king called 
Arthur. 

205 



HISTORY OF WALES 

not consent at once, but asked for one month's time, when his 
request would be granted. 

The month having elapsed, Mider appeared, about midnight, 
looking more comely than he had ever looked. Airem again 
tried to evade his bargain, but Mider claimed the fruit of his 
victory, for which he said he had waited a whole year. The 
queen having consented, Mider put his right arm round her, 
holding his weapons in his left. The couple then walked out 
through the astonished witnesses, who, rushing from the hall 
after them the next moment, could see nothing more of the 
pair. At last their whereabouts were discovered by a Druid, 
and the fairy king was compelled to surrender Ktain. 

Other parts of the same myth tell us that Etain was born 
thrice, seven years intervening between her death and sub- 
sequent resurrection. 

The similarity between this story and the well-known story 
of Arthur and Gwenevere is sufficiently obvious. It is stranger 
if we take the Welsh story of Gwenevere, not in the form given 
us in Tennyson's romantic Idylls, but in the form it probably 
possessed a thousand years ago. In the older versions we 
find the queen eloping with Melwas after he had waited for 
her a whole year. In the Welsh Triads Gwenevere seems to 
have been reborn twice, or to have lived three times in all. 
This threefold existence was, of course, abandoned when the 
romancers began to make a king of Arthur and a frail woman 
of his queen. There are other likenesses to be found in the 
treble existence of Irish Ktain and Welsh Gwenevere. Both 
were blondes {gwen means ' white '). Both, again, are repre- 
sented as of great beauty. 

Again, that well-known heroine Iseult, or Bssyllt, as she 
appears in the Welsh narratives, is clearly akin to Ailill — Welsh 
ellyll, an elf or demon — who figures in Irish romance. Essyllt, 
again, has two lives. We read that King Mark and Tristram 
contended for the love of Isolde — " la beale Isoud." Some- 
times one and sometimes the other was successful, so that 
in the Triads we find Essyllt {i.e. Isolde) of the White Tresses 
classified as one of " the three unchaste I^adies of Britain." 
206 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

At last King Mark drove Tristram away. Then we find him 
meeting with another Isolde, " Isoud la blaunche Maynys." 

There is a further likeness between the Arthur story and 
the Airem legend. Both Arthur and Airem are derived from 
words meaning ' I plough.' 

It may be remembered that it was to Arthur that Kilhwch 
looked when required by Yspyddaden to make corn ripen in 
the space of one day, as well as to have the land ploughed 
and sown in one day. It is desirable to note here that the 
Gaulish goddess Artio was similar to the Greek Demeter. 

When we look to Scotland we find Wander substituted for 
Gwenevere. Queen Wander, like the Welsh and Irish beauties, 
was faithless. The cynic may suggest that nearly all the 
women of that age were — certainly all the men. The connexion 
is found in the early English metrical romances, which sometimes 
give ' Wannore ' for ' Gwenevere.' So much does the infidelity 
of Gwenevere seem to have impressed itself on the Welsh that 
the name became a term of reproach. Sir John Rhys has 
reproduced for us the old Welsh rhyme, which he has translated 
as follows : 

Guinevere Giant Ogurvan's daughter. 
Naughty young, more naughty later. 

Of course the Welsh legend knew not I^ancelot in connexion 
with Gwenevere. That part of the story is from the land of 
the troubadours.^ But his part of paramour was taken by 
Modred or Melwas. These tales of naughtiness probably 
belong to a later age than the story of Airem and Etain. 
Anyone reading the latter will be struck by the delicate handling 
of the elopement. Etain only consents if her husband permits. 
Mider is not permitted to touch her without her consent, 
though her husband has promised Mider that privilege. Their 
departure is most delicately arranged. In truth, Etain is 
much nearer the goddess than is frail Gwenevere. The same 
changes can, of course, be observed in the myths which centre 

^ Chretien de Troyes invented this part of the story, though Lancelot 
himself is the creation of Ulrich von Zatzickhoven, or of the author of 
Perlesvaus, or perhaps of a still earher writer. 

207 



HISTORY OF WALES 

around Venus. At first a goddess, the symbol of all that was 
beautiful, as time passes she degenerates into a mere wanton. 

If the Airem- Arthur stories are considered carefully, it 
appears to us that it is possible to see some subtle references 
to conflicts between light and darkness — ^possibly the conten- 
tion between the sun and the moon for possession of the 
morning star. This is not the view taken by Sir John Rhys, who 
rather regards Arthur as a culture-hero like the Greek Mercury. 
He admits, however, that it is possible to regard him as 
typifying the sun, or it may be the earth. Sir John when 
treating the central figure as a culture-hero lays considerable 
stress on the fact that Arthur visited Hades and that Uthr 
Bendragon, or Pendragon, was one of the names of the King 
of Hades — ^the realm from whence all culture is fabled to have 
come. It may also be remembered that in the story of Pwyll, 
Prince of Dyfed, Arawn, King of Annwvyn (Hades), changed 
places with Pwyll for the space of one year, during which 
time he ruled with the perfection of justice in Pwyll's realm, 
so that Pwyll's counsellors persuaded him on his return to 
continue the good government which Arawn had inaugurated. 

Whether this is sufficient to show that Arthur was the Welsh 
Mercury we doubt. It is, however, sufficient to account for 
Arthur's reputed conquests of Norway, Scotland, and Ireland. ^ 

If we regard these stories as having their origin in sun- 
myths it is interesting to observe that Gwalchmei (English 
Gawayne, French Gauvain, Scotch Gavin), the Walganus of 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, who is Arthur's dearest companion, 
and in a matriarchal state the heir to his realm, is described as 
growing apace until midday, after which his strength declined 
as rapidly as it grew. This looks as though he stood for 
sunshine. His horse was, indeed, likened to the gleam of the 
sun. Now Gwalchmei's brother was Medrod (English Modred), 
who is antagonistic to Arthur and Gwalchmei, and attempts 
to prevent Arthur rescuing Gwenevere. The battle which 
follows is the great finale to the whole story. This battle, 

^ We again repeat that it is improbable that there is any connexion between 
Arthur the king and Arthur the hero, save in the later developments of the story. 
208 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

known to the readers of Tennyson as the battle of Camelot, 
was called in the Welsh stories the battle of Camlan. It sees 
the death of Medrod and the fatal wounding of Arthur, who 
had already been deprived, in the struggle at the ford, of his 
dear companion Gwalchmei. Here again the conflict between 
light (Gwalchmei) and darkness (Medrod), resulting in the 
death of light, followed up by a final conflict between darkness 
and the sun, may, according to some, be seen, though here we 
must observe that it is contrary to the habit of myths to run 
completely counter to nature, and it is clear that never in 
nature were darkness and light both destroyed. As Sir John 
Rhys has said : " The conquest of the solar hero by the 
powers of darkness is just what we may expect, and the death 
of Gwalchmei at the hands of his brother Medrod might be 
regarded as the close of the incident ; but when the culture- 
hero, the protector and guardian of the solar hero, survives 
to conquer the representative of darkness and is himself 
taken off the scene mortally wounded, such is not the proper 
ending of the myth, and the solar hero should have been 
brought back in some form or other, as may be seen from the 
return of lyleu effected by Gwydion's wand." 

With regard to these last few words, it is desirable to point 
out that Gwydion has been regarded as bearing the same 
relation to I^leu as Arthur to Gwalchmei. His wand was 
capable of as great marvels as Pharaoh's cane in the Egyptian 
stories. He it was who, with the help of Math, " by charms 
and illusions" formed " from the blossoms of the oak, and the 
blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadowsweet 
... a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever 
saw." This maiden, who afterward became the wife of 
Gwydion's foster-child, had a character which ill assorted with 
her beauty, for she caused her husband to be turned into an 
eagle, and, as a punishment, was herself transformed into an 
owl. 

The greatest of the Welsh enchanters was, of course, 
Myrddin, or Merlin. Of his fabled powers we all have heard. 
Many have read of how, while yet a child, he brought 

o 209 



HISTORY OF WALES 

discomfiture on Pendragon's court and exposed the goblin 
builders. It is perhaps not so widely known that he is con- 
nected with that Nudd or I^ludd whose name exists to-day 
in ' IvUdgate,' derived as it is from the British ' Parth I^ludd.' 
Both I/ludd and MerUn were, in origin, not improbably, 
sky-gods — ^perhaps sun-gods. Merlin is supposed, according to 
British tradition, to have descended upon Bardsey Isle, where 
he remained with his companions, having taken with him the 
Thirteen Treasures of Britain. It is interesting in this con- 
nexion to recall the fact that the Greek grammarian Demetrius, 
who is believed to have visited Britain in the first century a.d., 
speaks of a Kronos who, with his attendants, was chained by 
sleep to an island in the West. Perhaps even then a tale 
existed based on the descent of the sun every night into the 
western sea. 

Thus it appears that there is some reason to believe that 
these stories commenced in very ancient times as legends or 
myths connected with sun- or nature- worship. That the 
stories so created were vastly modified in subsequent ages, 
even before they reached the Continent, is certain. The 
general lines these changes followed we have already men- 
tioned. We now pass on to consider how these Welsh stories 
spread out all over Western Europe, and how they reached 
the form known to us at present. 

Dissemination of the Arthur Legends 

In dealing with the later history of the Arthurian legends 
dates are of importance. The Mahinogion — which, though it 
contains many stories which have no reference to Arthur, may 
yet be regarded, for our present purpose, as the Welsh con- 
tribution to the Arthur cycle — comes down to us in a written 
form which dates from the twelfth century or later. ^ Accord- 
ing to Mr. Alfred Nutt, " The redaction of the Four Branches 

1 The Red Book of Hergest, from which I,ady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogion 
is culled, is of the fourteenth century. An earlier Graal, written in Welsh, 
is stated by I^ady Guest to have been at Hengwrt in her day. It is now in 
the Welsh National Wbrary. See note to Plate 34, lyist of Illustrations. 
210 



wn jHtWinrtmimnmf ot^WW sm>u\ nwM)»f Vruet 
tniVumti^ii v0ittit0MnM cnnil:irvna nniTtf vrntrt^nu* 

V WW 11^ V An ^%\ aclHnw4mwHki»rKn\0i^ir 
w#\iin nn\m\ mt) n^^^ mMmutwn^^^ 

\\ai< jm\\Vnut0itaUDuittm x\m^ n mmfkuHm 
i^mmr^i\\^(i\^^ \mUvHit itct d^ifcimi i^l\omi* vtoyuot 
v(mttf\\♦rtivma4\Mn\vvuertUitiwl)lnKJlnvn^m^^^^^ 

\mw DiiiMOavMcrouuf.awmv iHnm^niHctwrtwbv 
in(\ttl^^cp^*lnnn\tictiW vnw wmwi^in .Ann M^y^pt 

na ciiitinCiWb aouic vn\atrtm^caUn^4t\feuva»cttVrttt jle 
ovf Uiniflot dcMvm . acAcoucv; mSitl^a\>f 4coovtta cf 

Plate XXXIV. Page from " Ystoryaeu Seint Greai,," the 

EARWEST KNOWN Welsh Graal MS. 210 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

[of the Mabinogion] which has come down to us with a certain 
amount of hnguistic modifications, and, perhaps, a few unim- 
portant material modifications, is probably a product and 
sign of the national movement under Gruffydd ap Cynan 
(1075-1137) in North Wales, and Rhys ab Tewdwr {c. 1070- 
1093) in South Wales." We may take it, therefore, that the 
Welsh stories belong to the period of history we have lately 
been considering, and shall consider further in the next chapter, 
which is concerned with political history. 

Before we pass to a detailed account of the dates and 
countries of the various poets who were responsible for the 
spreading of the Arthur stories, it is desirable to point out that 
this period— the close of the eleventh and the beginning of 
the twelfth century — synchronized with a sudden development 
in all branches of native Irish literature. In our opinion it is 
to this time rather than to any other that we must assign the 
introduction of the fairy stories and the references to Ireland. 
As Mr, Nutt says, " We must, ... I think, regard these 
Welsh story-tellers to whom we owe Kilhwch and Rhonabwy 
as men fascinated by the spirit and style of Irish romance, 
and introducing the same into Welsh literature." Now what 
Ireland had done for Wales it is fairly clear Wales did for 
Normandy. As we have already suggested, the Welsh and 
the Normans were not, apart from the feuds of the nobles, 
ill-disposed to one another. Even among the nobility there 
was much intermarrying, and the Norman followers and the 
Welsh peasants or commoners probably soon got to regard 
one another, if not with affection, at least with some sort of 
tolerance ; and it is evident that the Welsh story-tellers and 
bards taught the Normans their old romantic tales of love 
and daring, and that these tales got a firm hold on the Norman 
mind, probably not later than the commencement of the 
twelfth century. 

We are now in a position to consider the expansion of the 
myths through the writings of the Continental troubadours 
and minnesingers. 

The man who is generally credited with the popularizing of 

211 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the Arthur stories in Britain is Geoffrey of Monmouth, or 
Geoffrey ap Arthur. He it was who, purporting to write 
serious history, gave to the Arthur of Nennius all the attributes 
of the hero of the legends, and by so doing created a wonderful 
British king, and in consequence to some extent increased the 
dignity of the English Crown and turned into life a figure who 
had previously been but a symbol. 

This Geoffrey of Monmouth ^ — who is the very Munchausen 
of historians — ^was born about iioo. He admits that his so- 
called facts are gleaned from another book, which he says was 
brought from Brittany and translated from the British into the 
I^atin tongue by Walter, Bishop of Oxford. One of the first 
copiers of Geoffrey was Robert Wace, who published his Anglo- 
Norman romance of the Roman de Brut about 1155. Almost 
simultaneously, or even it may be a trifle earlier {c. 1150), Marie 
de France, working on more ancient Breton lais, was delight- 
ing Norman audiences by her Arthur poems. From the form 
her poems take it is clear, however, that even in her time the 
heroes of whom she sang were well known to her audience. 

The next names which are important are those of Chretien 
de Troyes, Robert de Borron, and I^ayamon — the first two 
Frenchmen, the last a Saxon. 

Chretien de Troyes is generally regarded as the creator of 
the Arthur stories as we know them to-day — ^that is to say, 
in spirit rather than in detail. With him came the love 
interest, the lovelorn knights, the frailty of the heroes. The 
one-time perfect Gawaine — the knight without reproach — ^no 
longer is pictured as perfect. He has commenced the descent 
which resulted in his becoming eventually, as Miss Weston 
expresses it, " a hardened reprobate, immoral, reckless, 
irreverent, inferior not only to Galahad or Perceval, but to 
the knights of later invention, and of I^ancelot's family, Bors 
and Hector." Chretien, however, had a lively pen, and 
although he seems to have known that he was departing from 
the ancient standards, he was successful in making of Arthur 
and his knights human heroes who appealed to the great 

* See pp. 290-293 for a further account of his life. 
212 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

world and in investing the stories woven round their names 
with an interest which made these tales popular throughout 
Western Europe. 

One of Chretien's most ambitious stories was left unfinished 
by him. This tale, a conte del Graal, was, however, completed 
by others, viz. Wauchier de Denain, Manessier (both of whom 
were in the service of Jeanne of Flanders), and Gerbert de 
Montreuil. Concerning the unequal and conflicting results we 
need not speak. What has an interest for us is that Wauchier 
specifically states that he used as his authority for the Gawaine 
stories the Welshman Bleheris (who appears as Master Blihis 
in a fragmentary text called Elucidation, where he seems to 
have been regarded as the author of a tale dealing with a 
sevenfold quest of the Grail). This Bleheris is doubtless the 
" famous story-teller" whose name is given as Bledhericus by 
Giraldus Cambrensis and as Breris by Thomas of Brittany. 
It would seem, therefore, that Chretien and his co-workers 
were using Breton and Welsh sources. It is probable that 
Gaimar, the translator of Geoffrey, who was working on the 
Arthur stories in the middle of the twelfth century, also had 
access to Welsh authorities. 

In the meantime — i.e. at least before Chretien's death — the 
hero I^anzelet had been created. Who the creator was is not 
clear. An early story called Perlesvaus, by an unknown 
writer, contains a I^ancelot, and Marie de France has a story 
about lyanval. The German Ulrich von Zatzickhoven is, 
however, generally credited with the creation of that L-anzelet 
who was the pattern for the great I^ancelot du I^ac of the later 
Chretien de Troyes. 

It was another German, Wolfram von Eschenbach, who 
developed the story of Perceval, or Parsifal. Wolfram tells us 
that this story of the Graal was based on a work by ICiot the 
Provengal, who had in turn found it in a manuscript at 
Toledo written in Arabic by a heathen astronomer, Flegetanis, 
and that the story of Parsifal was contained in the same 
manuscript. If this were the true origin it would be imperti- 
nent to discuss the story further in this book. As we shall 

213 



HISTORY OF WALES 

see, however, there is reason to believe that the legend is 
Celtic in origin, and although it is possible that Kiot lived 
and was Wolfram's authority, we can probably dismiss 
Flegetanis. For our present purpose it is desirable to note 
that the two kingdoms of Queen Herzeloyde, though located by 
Wolfram in Spain, are called Waleis and Norgals, and, as 
Miss Weston points out, these are undoubtedly Wales and 
North Wales (the "North galis" of Malory), i.e. the northern 
borderland. She adds : " Parzival's title throughout the poem 
is der Waleis, in French versions le Gallois, an evident indica- 
tion of the Celtic origin of the story." 

Having now glanced at the men who were responsible for 
the development of the Arthur stories (and we have stopped 
our account long before Malory is reached, since the names 
become very numerous and their work is to a considerable 
extent mere repetition), we must now consider the questions 
which have been raised concerning the connexion between 
the Welsh stories and the Continental tales of I^ancelot and 
Parsifal, 

Lancelot and Peredur 

As we have suggested already, the Welsh legends contain no 
story of lyancelot and Gwenevere. Even on the Continent 
the story had many variants. If we take the version of the 
German Ulrich von Zatzickhoven, we find lyanzelet made 
the son of Pant, King of Genewis, and his queen Clarine. 
Their subjects having revolted, the king was slain and the 
queen taken captive. Just before the queen was seized a 
fairy carried away lyanzelet to her abode in the sea, whence 
she was called ' the I^ady of the I^ake,' and lyanzelet — or, to 
give him his later French spelling, lyancelot — became lyancelot 
du lyac. This fairy's kingdom was the lyand of Maidens. 

All this, as Sir John Rhys has told us, is very Celtic. Part of 
it — the seizing of the baby lyancelot by the fairy ruler of a 
land of maidens — is known to Irish legend. As for Wales, 
Peredur takes the place of lyancelot. Many characters in the 
Welsh stories can be identified with those of the oldest version 
214 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

of the Ivancelot tale. Thus we find Gwyn ap Nudd referring 
to Bran as the son of Ywerit. Iweret was the giant, the 
oppressor of Lancelot's fairy foster-mother, who was eventually 
slain by Ivancelot. Again, Mabaz, a prominent character in 
the German story, looks like the Welsh Mabon, though it is 
true their characters are depicted very differently. 

Lancelot, it may be remembered, married, after the desertion 
of Ade, the Lady Iblis, daughter of Iweret, It was this Iblis 
who was granted the Mantle of Chastity at Arthur's court. 
There is a lady known to Irish legend as Kblieu, and though 
she was not at all good, her name serves to show the connexion 
between Iblis and the lady Bvilieu, who is placed in the Welsh 
Triads as one of the Three Chaste Women of the Isle of Britain 
— an enumeration which has always appeared to us to take a 
too pessimistic view of morals, even in Britain ! In the Welsh 
account she is not given as the wife of Lancelot or Peredur. 

It is interesting to observe that the Lancelot story places 
Arthur's court at Caradigan. This, of course, is remarkably 
like Ceredigion, though it has been stated that the word refers, 
not to Welsh Ceredigion or Cardigan, but to Cornish Cardinham, 
near Bodmin. In either case Arthur's court is placed among 
the Brythonic people. 

As regards the actual story. The Welsh version of Peredur 
and Evrawc as given to us by Lady Charlotte Guest in her 
Mahinogion is really not at all like the German version. It is 
clear, however, that there is a connexion between it and 
Chretien de Troyes' early romance (late twelfth century) called 
Lancelot. The commencements are very similar. Sir Kay is 
early introduced into both. In both he is made to appear as 
Arthur's most important follower. In both the queen, 
Gwenevere, is insulted by a stranger knight and carried off ; 
in the one case, though not in the other, Kay plays an ignoble 
part, being represented as powerless to avenge the injury done 
to the queen. In both Arthur is merely represented as some 
vague figure whom all serve, though for no very obvious 
reason. In both Gawain (Welsh Gwalchmei) appears as 
hero, but not as taking the prominent place in avenging the 



HISTORY OF WALES 

queen. In both the chief hero is represented as falHng into a 
deep reverie, from which he is awakened by a savage blow 
from some enemy (Kay in the Welsh story and the Keeper of 
the Ford in Chretien's tale) to well-nigh kill his attacker. In 
both we have a damsel making a highly immodest offer, which, 
though accepted, is taken no advantage of. In both an 
anxious father restrains his son from attacking the hero. In 
both the hero is made to perform a miraculous deed, in the 
one case reuniting a sword twice after it had been broken by 
him, in the French version lifting a stone which it would 
require seven strong men to move. Both stories introduce a 
game of chess for no very obvious reason. In the French 
story we also have a reference to the fairy who had taken care 
of lyancelot during his early years. This was one of the main 
points of the early German version, but is not present in the 
Welsh story. 

When we come to the main theme there is a wide difference. 
Peredur was not the lovelorn knight of Chretien's story. He 
had no amorous passages with the queen. In nature Peredur 
is much nearer to Parsifal, the Perceval of Chretien's story, 
Perceval the Welshman (le Gallois), with whom he has been 
identified. But it must be remembered that Chretien's 
lyancelot is not the lyancelot of the earlier stories. They make 
him a hero with no amorous weaknesses. Chretien seems to 
have felt that he was forsaking the high ideals of the past, 
and is careful in his preface to point out that the method of 
treatment was given him by his royal mistress " my lady of 
Champagne " (Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of 
Louis VII). In the Welsh story Peredur does not seek the 
queen ; he is in search of his own lady. Sir John Rhys has 
suggested that Chretien, copying the older story of Peredur, 
went wrong and mistook Peredur's lady for Arthur's queen. 
His explanation certainly throws light on the muddled move- 
ment of the French romance. 

The connexion between Lancelot and Peredur is shown 
perhaps most strongly by the story of Lancelot and Blaine. 
Sir Galahad, it will be remembered, was the child of these 
216 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

two. One naturally inquires what of Guinevere ? Of course 
the story as given us by Malory gets over the difficulty by 
making it all a mistake, a love plot laid by Blaine and a witch, 
so that I^ancelot became her lover, thinking her to be Guinevere. 
The truth, doubtless, is that Chretien started the mistake by 
mixing up Arthur's queen Guinevere with Peredur's lady 
Blen. lyater writers got the Peredur-I/ancelot story more 
correctly, so that Blen or Blaine again becomes I^ancelot's lady. 
But by now lyancelot was known as the lover of Guinevere, 
and so the witch stratagem had to be introduced. This does 
not at all explain why Lancelot went to live with Blaine in the 
Joyous Island. The Blaine of the Joyous Island probably 
belongs to a different story from that of Blaine the Fair Maid 
of Astolat, though Malory runs the two together. 

In the Welsh Triads Lancelot du Lac is given as the father 
of Galath or Galahad, one of the three successful searchers 
for the Holy Grail. Another was Peredur, son of Bvrawc, 
and the third Bort, son of King Bort. This third hero has 
been identified with Bran. It is interesting to note that 
Malory introduces a Eng Brandegore (Bran of Gower) into 
his version of the Arthur stories, and it will be remembered 
that his daughter, the fair Helen, had a child whose father was 
Bors, possibly the Bort of the Triads. It is probable that 
Bors, Lancelot, and Peredur are all variants of the same hero. 

Peredur has also been identified with Owain. The likenesses 
between the two stories, as classified by Sir John Rhys, are 
somewhat as follows : 

(i) The sons of Peredur's host refused to lead him to the 
Avanc's, or Addanc's, cave. 
Owain' s host would not aid him to find the Knight of the 
Fountain. 

(2) Peredur and Owain are set on their way to the 
Avanc's cave and the Knight of the Fountain 
respectively, the one by a beautiful youth sitting on 
a mound, the other by a Cyclops (?) sitting on a 
mound surrounded by wild animals. 

217 



HISTORY OF WALES 

(3) Peredur slays the Avanc, being aided by a lady who 
gives him a stone of invisibility. Owain in his 
contest with the Black Knight is successful because 
of the stone of invisibility given him by I^unet. 

{4) The lady who gave Peredur the precious stone would 
marry only the victorious knight of the tournament 
she arranged. The Lady of the Fountain would 
only have for her husband a knight who overcame 
all those who chose to challenge him at the well. 

(5) Peredur is successful at the tournament arranged by 

the Empress, and stays with her fourteen years. 
Owain marries the Lady of the Well, having slain her 
husband, the Black Knight, and lives with her for 
three years. 

We add another and leave out Sir John's sixth : 

(6) Both Peredur and Owain slay a serpent on a hill. 

It is just here that Sir John makes his most interesting 
point. Peredur kills a serpent and obtains a gold ring ; 
Owain kills a serpent, and a " pure white lion " whom it was 
attacking follows him like a greyhound. Sir John has pointed 
out that in Welsh lieu = light and Hew = lion. The gold 
ring probably means the sun's disk. There was a Welsh 
sun-hero, even as Lug was an Irish sun-hero. 

The history of the Graal stories we do not propose to consider. 
It is necessary to add, however, that they probably originated 
in Britain. Parsifal or Perceval le Gallois was also in essence 
a Welsh story, being derived from the story of Peredur. 

Historical Values 

Many other points worthy of treatment remain, but it is 
impossible to consider them in one short chapter. One 
question we must, however, ask and attempt to answer. 
That is, What is the historical value, if any, of these stories ? 

As representations of the actual doings of men it may be 
said that the Arthur stories have no value whatever. It is 
218 



THE WELSH ROMANCES 

quite impossible to base any historical statement on evidence 
so doubtful as the imaginative writings of poets. Moreover, 
it is clear that in many cases the deeds ascribed to the heroes 
are supernatural, or at least superhuman. Occasionally, no 
doubt, the story-teller introduces some historical event, but 
we can only recognize it when we know of the historical 
happening beforehand. 

The Arthur stories are, however, of great interest to the 
student of history, in the widest sense, from two points of 
view. First, we have a peep into the everyday life of 
the times. The love of war, of hunting, of manly exercises ; 
the position of women, their dependence upon their knights, 
the somewhat unchivalric view present in the Irish and 
Welsh stories, though not in the French, that love is a folly 
and a weakness ; the pictures of the castles, the hospitality, 
the tourneys, the games played, the vestments worn, all 
these have a very great interest for the student of those 
times. The life depicted was, however, entirely that of 
the nobles. Hardly a whisper reaches us of the life of the 
peasant. But we must be thankful for what we have, and it 
is clear that the earlier Arthur stories are helpful in enabling 
us to understand the type of mind and the mode of life of the 
noble of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Secondly, we 
have a problem presented to us of very great interest, and one 
which, when it is solved, will, without doubt, affect our view 
of eleventh- and twelfth-century history. We refer to the 
development of chivalry. The sparing of a fallen foe, the 
refusal to take a mean advantage, the generosity to rivals, the 
protection of women — these ideals had an enormous influence 
on mediaeval history. It was not until the complete break- 
down of this system, not until the bloody and horrible Thirty 
Years War, when men became devils, who tortured the fallen 
and outraged the fair, that it was necessary for Huig van Groot ^ 
to give to the world the first system of International I^aw. This 
established law instead of honour as the ultimate arbitrator. 
Which is the better we leave the philosopher to decide, merely 

^ Better known by his Latin title of Hugo Grotixis. 

219 



HISTORY OF WALES 

remarking that to-day in Germany a school of publicists 
exists which openly states that if ever their country were 
embroiled in a great war it might be necessary to tear up 
all the weak rules of international law and return to the 
savagery of the brute. ^ This is where honour and fair play 
are superior to law — there are no laws to tear up save what 
not even death can pluck from the heart of man. 

It is this creation of chivalry which, as we have said, is one 
of the great results, or causes, of the Arthurian saga. This 
spirit of fairness in battle and in love was, we need hardly add, 
quite foreign to the Greek or Ivatin mind. It is to the honour 
of the Celt that it was from him that the great ideal emanated. 
When it developed, however, is a matter of great uncertainty. 
There is little in Welsh history of the eleventh century to 
show that it had during those years any great grip upon the 
Welsh princes ; there is much evidence that it had its effect 
on their minds in the thirteenth. It is, in our opinion, prob- 
able that the poet created the ideal rather than that a social 
movement created the nobler view of v/hich the poets sang. 
In other words, the bards were responsible for the movement, 
and not the movement for the bard's song. 

1 This was written before the outbreak of the great European War. 



220 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE NORMAN CASTLES 

IT is quite impossible to understand the later history of 
Wales without appreciating the immense effect which 
the castle-builders and their system had upon the 
people of Wales. The Norman castle was not merely a form 
of fortification ; it was the centre of a social system. Around 
it turned not merely the warlike acts of knights and men-at- 
arms, but the prayers of the priests and the bargains of the 
townsmen. No town existed anywhere in Wales save under 
the protecting walls of a castle. Many religious foundations, 
though by no means all, found protection, especially in the 
early days of the Norman Conquest, near a castle wall. Such 
justice as existed in Wales during the early feudal times was 
enforced in the castle courts (or, if the parties were Welsh, in 
the tribal court). In a word, the castle was the centre of 
worldly life, even as the monastery was the harbour into which 
those who had devoted their lives to religion sailed in order to 
find peace. 

In no period is it possible to have law or a law-abiding 
people without having force either naked or veiled with which 
to enforce obedience. To-day we are protected in our rights 
and constrained to perform our public duties by the knowledge 
that an effective police system can be set in operation to bring 
our tormentors, or ourselves, before an admirable judiciary, 
which can and will punish or constrain, and prevent or force 
the doing or not doing of any particular law or lawlessness. 
In Wales in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the position 
was so different that the reader would do well to contrast the 
two states of things. 

221 



HISTORY OF WALES 

In the first place, the King's Peace did not run beyond the 
high-roads and royal demesnes and certain cities, even in 
Kngland. In Wales it is probable that in practice the king's 
writ did not run at all. In other words, it was useless to call 
upon the offender in the name of the king to appear and 
show cause, etc. He would not appear ; he need not appear.^ 

Again, it must not be imagined that it was always punishable 
to murder or to steal. It entirely depended (in practice and 
apart from mere legal theory) upon who was the murderer, the 
murdered, the thief and the robbed. If a villein murdered 
a villein belonging to his lord he was tried in the lord's court, 
condemned, and hung. So with a thief who stole from his lord 
or his lord's dependent. But who was to complain or try if the 
lord captured an enemy and gouged out his eyes and chopped 
off his hands and mutilated him ? No one ! The only reply 
was war brought by or on behalf of the wronged one's relatives 
against the wrongdoer. If the wronged one was a man of no 
family he could be done anything with by his lord (in practice 
and quite apart from theory). He could not appeal to anyone ; 
no writ of Habeas Corpus existed to aid his relatives to procure 
his release. Had it existed the king could not, or would not, 

^ The writer is aware that the extreme generality of these and the following 
remarks may be at variance with that accuracy which history requires. 
The picture is not painted, however, at random, but after most careful con- 
sideration. As to the King's Peace, see Pollock and Maitland's masterly 
History of English Law, vol. i, p. 44. Among the Welsh, local jurisdictions 
were vested in tribal courts ; with the Normans, in seigneurial courts or 
himdred and shire courts. As to the seigneurial jurisdiction, it depended 
on the extent of the original grant, but in all cases of great lords included 
not only infanganiheof, but utfangantheof, giving a very wide power of life 
and death. Welshmen, imless they had submitted to a Norman lord, had 
no right of audience in a lord's court, that being reserved to suitors — i.e. 
tenants. On the other hand, the Norman retainer, being a stranger, had no 
rights in the tribal court. Ex abundanti cautela, we have occasionally added 
" in practice and apart from legal theory " to the remarks which follow, 
but we are by no means sure that it is necessary to limit the statement in 
this manner. We have had constantly in view the various poUce systems 
present among the Saxons, Normans, and Welsh. The trouble is that all 
these were based on the unity present among relatives, or citizens or members 
of the same community. Systems such as frithhorh or frank-pledge broke 
down when the injured person was a Welshman and the v/rongdoer a Norman, 
or vice versd. The matter is, in our opinion, historically important. 

222 






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Bala y Chirlr" 



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_ MonWomery Bridgnorth 

4Llanfihangil)^ ^/ ° "^ 

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Aberystvv/th|e-^^ uaniaioes ^ 
/^^Jfetrad jVleurig 




Llanrhy§t.ud 

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•Cas Flemish 



.^^ ,'\Xr u •^--- oCasf^wel j 1 ^lanvmddvfrl' 

N^or^t ^'"^" •Ne.sEa^e ErnlW [(Ll^dov^en 
Irevdraeth) <( ^y^^ / 

;S'Dav;ds^ ^ pinwei'leir /'^[)yney(^ 

Wiston (Gw,s) daer:.anthenC>D?^w^n 

<idwelly/ 

Swransea (SerfiFrenyd) 



Ludlow 



•Richar 
Castle 




Pain's Castle 



.Clifford r 




Pipton' 
AbGrhonddu (Brecon] 



Ewias Hafold 
White ^i^enfrith 



^ - ^- ^.Carew 
Pe'rn broke. ...r^ 



Llarfsiephen "^C-arre^/Cennan I AbGr^'aueflny ^^^'•'^* __P 

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Lau^harn^jlj^AbEr Tywi f / 

/; ,;, :/ 

t' ^.,J--elVlanorbier 



riXydweli (KidwellyK 
\— LouihonlUychwr] 

" -^ Swansea 

OystermoathlVstrunrLlwynart^i) 



WALES 

Showing the Sites of the 

CASTLES 





Cardiff 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

have troubled to enforce it with his army, and his administra- 
tive officers, the baihffs and such-hke, would have been 
impotent. The relatives, apart from having no effective 
writ which they could sue out, had no court to which to apply 
and complain. If the relatives were important they could 
complain to the king's court, they could appeal to the king, 
they could fight. That, however, is a special case. We are 
considering the position of a man of ordinary class. Standing 
alone, such a man was absolutely at the mercy of the lord of 
the district. 

The result was obviously to drive the lesser men into the 
camp of one lord or another. The ordinary man purchased 
the right to live, the right to have his wife protected and his 
children immune from outrage by becoming the ' man ' of a 
lord. He became the lord's tenant, bound to serve him in 
war, to protect him, to fight for him, to pay suit of court and 
to submit to the jurisdiction of his lord's court. On the other 
hand, he obtained some protection. If he were wronged 
unjustly by another lord, his lord could effectively complain, 
even as he would complain had another kicked one of his 
chairs about. 

The Castle 

One naturally asks, men being men, why and how did those 
men called ' lords ' obtain such outrageous powers ? The 
answer is, the castle. Protected and safe behind their castle 
walls, they could, as the writer in the Acta Sanctorum puts it, 
"protect themselves from their foes . . . subdue their equals, 
and oppress their inferiors." ^ Built in the first place by 
men who could command labour, either at the sword's point 
or by gold got from the sale of slaves or the ransoms of 
captives, the castles enabled their owners to bring to subjection 
the surrounding neighbourhood. The inhabitants were far 
more subject to the lord than to the king. The eyes of the 

^ Corapare Anglo-Saxon Chronicle : " Bishop Odo and Barl William remained 
behind, and wrought castles widely throughout the nation and oppressed poor 
folk ; and ever after that it grew greatly in evil." 

223 



HISTORY OF WALES 

great rarely turned to view the wrongs of the little. The lord 
could do well-nigh what he would with his subjects so long as 
his injustice were not general. General injustice would result 
in a state of things dangerous to the castellan himself, and, 
consequently, was rarely attempted. Moreover, it is to be 
remembered that the lords were men of family, more cultured 
than the average man, not without feelings of chivalry and 
honour. When this personal equation was removed, as at 
the time of the building of the adulterine castles of Stephen's 
reign, we see in what crimes power enabled the upstart 
lords to indulge. 

We may perhaps take as an example of the deeds which 
could be done with impunity in those days the excesses 
committed by William de Breose in his castle of Abergavenny. 
It will be remembered that William's uncle, Henry of 
Hereford, had been slain by the Welsh near Arnold's Castle 
in 1175. The nephew, planning a revenge, got a large number 
of Welshmen into his castle of Abergavenny, pretending to 
have a royal ordinance to deliver relating to the carrying of 
weapons by travellers. Once there he required them to take 
an oath not to carry weapons : " That no traveller by the waie 
amongst them should bear any bow, or other unlawful weapon." 
Had they sworn they would have become unarmed, defenceless 
men to be shot at leisure. They refused, whereupon William 
had them condemned to death and hung. One of these Welsh- 
men was a noble of Gwent, Seisyll ap Dyfnwal. Not content 
with putting him to death, William sent men to Seisyll's home, 
captured his wife, slew her child in her arms, and brought her to 
Abergavenny to carry her sorrow for the death of her husband 
and her son to the arms of their murderer. It is to be understood 
that there was no redress sought for or obtainable in law ^ for 
this grievous wrong. Revenge was obtained, as Giraldus tells 
us, seven years after the event. As the shrewd Welshman 
observes, " the sons and grandsons of the deceased, having 
attained the age of manhood, took advantage of the absence 

* It is to be understood that we speak of what was possible in practice, 
and not merely in theory. See further for this incident p. 283. 

2 24- 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

of the lord of the castle, and, burning with revenge, concealed 
themselves, with no inconsiderable force, during the night, 
within the woody fosse of the castle. One of them, named 
Seisyll ap Budaf, on the preceding day said rather jocularly 
to the constable, ' Here will we enter this night,' pointing 
out a certain angle in the wall where it seemed the lowest. . . . 
The constable and his household watched all night under arms, 
till at length, worn out by fatigue, they all retired to rest on 
the appearance of daylight, upon which the enemy attacked 
the walls with scaling-ladders, at the very place that had been 
pointed out. The constable and his wife were taken prisoners, 
with many others, a few persons only escaping, who had 
sheltered themselves in the principal tower. With the exception 
of this stronghold, the enemy violently seized and burned every- 
thing ; and thus, by the righteous judgment of God, the crime 
was punished in the very place where it had been committed." 

In such a state of society it will readily be understood that 
castle-building was one of the quickest ways to power,* and 
that around the castle gathered such trade and business 
enterprise as in those warlike times managed to exist. 

With these preliminary remarks we will pass to a short 
account of the development of castle architecture and of the 
means taken to attack and reduce the castle when built. 

Castle Architecture 

From the very earliest times earthworks as a means of 
defence had been common in England and Wales. In Shrop- 
shire alone a very large number of old earthworks still exist, 
the most famous being, perhaps, those which were raised on 
either side of the ridge leading to the summit of the Wrekin. 
As Oman has said, " Down to the eleventh century it is not 
too much to say that stonework was the exception, and 
palisaded earthworks the general rule, in all places where 
Roman works were not already in existence." 

^ It was not, of course, permitted to every one who wished to build a castle. 
An unlicensed castle was called ' adulterine,' and was generially razed to the 
ground by the king. 

P 225 



HISTORY OF WALES 

The Motte 

With regard to the mottes, burhs, or pre-Norman fortified 
places, there is at present a divergence of opinion among 
authorities. Perhaps the man who has done most for our 
knowledge of castle architecture is the late G. T. Clark, who 
devoted a large part of his life to the consideration of this 
question, which had previously been somewhat neglected by- 
antiquaries. The result was the publication of his MedicBval 
Military A rchitedure in England. This work, which appeared in 
book form in 1884, contained many papers read by him before 
various learned societies at widely different dates, with the result 
that there are evident certain contradictions and inelegances. 

For our present purpose Mr. Clark's monograph is important 
because it first launched the theory that the burh and the 
motte (or moated mound) were identical — that is to say, that 
the Saxon burh was an early type of fortified place similar in 
nature and design to the Continental motte. Thus we have 
Builth Castle (which consisted merely of an earthen mound 
protected by moats and ditches) assigned to the ninth or 
early tenth century, and we are informed by him that the 
Norman marcher lords captured and strengthened many of 
these ancient fortresses, as, for instance, at Builth, where, we 
are told, they probably contented themselves with erecting 
a wooden palisading on the old mound fortress. If we follow 
Mr. Clark we must say, then, that fortified places similar in 
nature, though not in architecture, to the Norman castles of 
a later date existed in England before the Norman Conquest, 
even before Edward the Confessor's Norman favourites had 
built their castles at Pentecost or Orleton (the Aureton of 
Doomsday, and later known as Richard's Castle ^) ; that, in 
other words, Saxons and, apparently, Welsh leaders were 
throwing up these earthworks to defeat their enemies or tame 
their own dependents, and that when William came he found 
a country already well supplied with mottes. 

^ We are indebted to Mr. Round's article in Archaologia, vol. Iviii (1902), 
for this. 

226 




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THE NORMAN CASTLES 

Later writers, however, the chief of whom is J. H. Round, * 
have thrown great doubt upon this burh-motte theory, and 
we may probably assign the whole of the motte-castle-tower 
building to the Norman period. Even Richard's Castle and 
Pentecost Castle, which were undoubtedly built on the Welsh 
border before the Conquest, were raised by Normans in 
Edward's or Harold's train. They point out that all the old 
records when dealing with the Norman mottes use words which 
indicate original construction and not mere adaptation ; that 
where remains of these mottes have been found they are 
known to have been occupied and fortified by Normans ; that 
in many places where Saxon burhs are known to have been 
there are no remains of mottes. In view of these and many 
other arguments, for which reference may be made to Mr. 
Round's article in Archcsologia,^ we may perhaps assume that 
the motte, equally with the castle, was of Norman or Con- 
tinental origin, and that before the Norman had introduced 
moated mounds and castles proper England knew but the 
ancient earthen ramparts ; the Roman camps, now fallen to 
decay ; the geweorcs, or fastnesses of banked earth, built mainly 
by the Danes ; and the hurhs built by the English, and per- 
haps by the Welsh, to resist the Danish attacks. In other 
words, the seigneurial fortress, whether motte or castle, was 
absent from England before the coming of the Normans. 

On the other hand, there is evidence to show that the 
palisaded, moated mound lived on well into the time of 
Henry I. Giraldus tells us how Arnulph de Montgomery (the 
younger son of Roger de Montgomery) erected at Pembroke 
" a slender fortress with stakes and turf, which, on returning 
to England, he consigned to the care of Giraldus de Windesor 
[Gerald of Windesor, younger son of Walter fitz Other], his 
constable and lieutenant-general, a worthy and discreet man." 

An excellent description of this type of castle or motte 
is to be found in the Acta Sanctorum. Of this account Oman 

1 He is the leader of the opposition school. Others are Mr, W. H. St. John 
Hope, Mr. George Neilson, and Mrs. Armitage. 

2 Vol. Iviii, pp. 313 e< seq. He lays some stress on the fact that the Bayeux 
Tapestry shows the building of a motte-like castle at Hastings. 

227 



HISTORY OF WALES 

has said that " the description of this Flemish mound-fortress 
might serve for that of countless tenth- and eleventh-century 
strongholds in England" (and, we may add, Wales). We 
therefore feel justified in giving the description, which is a 
short one, in full. The passage, translated, runs as follows : 

" Bishop John [of Terouanne, in Flanders] had in the town 
of Merckem a mansion where he could abide with his retinue, 
while perambulating his diocese. Beside the court of the 
church there was a stronghold, which we might call a castle 
or a municipium. It was a lofty structure, built, according to 
the local custom, by the lord of that town many years before. 
For the rich and noble of that region, being much given to 
feuds and bloodshed, fortify themselves in order to protect 
themselves from their foes, and by these strongholds subdue 
their equals and oppress their inferiors. They heap up a 
mound as high as they are able, and dig round it as broad a 
ditch as they can excavate, hollowing it out to a very consider- 
able depth. Round the summit of the mound they construct 
a palisade of timber, to act as a wall ; it is most firmly com- 
pacted together, with towers set in it at intervals in a circle as 
best can be arranged. Inside the palisade they erect a house, 
or rather a citadel, which looks down on the whole neighbour- 
hood. No one can enter the place save by a bridge, which 
starts from the outer edge of the ditch and is carried on piers, 
built two or three together, gradually rising in height, so that 
it reaches the flat space on top of the mound and comes in 
opposite the gate of the palisade." 

The Stone Castle 

It was probably not until the reign of Henry I that stone 
castles became at all common. William I, it is true, had erected 
a few — e.g. the Tower of London — in tmusually important 
places, but for William's adventurers stone castles were far 
too expensive.^ By Henry I's time the new-comers had 

1 Practically all, if not quite all, the adulterine castles of Stephen's time 
were of earth and wood. Their owners were not men of much substance, 
and they were built far too quickly to have been well made of stone. They 
all fell Uke houses of cards under Henry II's attacks. 

228 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

flourished so well that the stone castle was no longer beyond 
their powers. Even in that time, however, the shell keep was 
more common than the heavy and solid square keep. The 
reason was twofold. The shell keep was comparatively 
inexpensive and comparatively light. It could be built on a 
mound of made soil. In other words, the old motte could be 
converted into a shell-keep castle. It was otherwise with the 
rectangular keep. That massive form of architecture, though 
one of the glories of the Norman period, was quite unsuited to 
being placed on made ground. It required a solid foundation. 
It was also expensive to build. It had, however, the merit of 
strength. To-day, there are far more examples of rectangular 
keeps in existence than of shell keeps, though in the twelfth 
century the latter were much more common than the former. 

The Shell Keep 

The shell keep is, perhaps, not so early a form as the rect- 
angular keep. It was, however, the simplest form, and as 
such we treat of it first. It was not so early as the rectangular 
keep for the simple reason that it could only be built with 
advantage on the old mounds or mottes, and they were 
regarded as sufficiently protected by wooden palisading until 
some time after the rectangular keep had been introduced. 

The shell keep consisted of a ring of fortifications surrounding 
an open court. The fortifications were placed to form various 
shapes, according to the necessities of the case. Sometimes 
they were circular, sometimes rectangular, sometimes irregular. 
Cardiff Castle ^ was an example of the shell keep. The castle, 
which dates probably from the early part of the twelfth 
century, covers a plot of ground nearly square in form, 
200 yards east and west, 216 yards north and south. It was 
bounded on the north and east and partially on the south 
side by banks of earth, on the west and the remainder of the 
south side by a wall. These banks are about 30 feet high, 
90 feet broad at the base and 12 feet at the summit. Along 

^ The accounts of specific castles in this chapter are all based on G. T. 
Clark's Mediaval Military Architecture. 

229 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the top of the mound runs a light embattled wall about 6 feet 
high and 2 feet thick. At the south-east, north-east, and 
north-west angles the banks were enlarged, possibly for the 
purpose of carrying towers. Mr. Clark says : " The earthwork 







^^ 



Pi,AN OF Cardiff Casti,e 
A Outer Ward. E Keep. 



B Site of Shire Hall, 
c Site of Middle Ward. 
D Site of Inner Ward. 



F Lodgings. 
G Black Tower. 
H Town Gate. 



is returned about 70 yards along the south and 30 yards along 
the west fronts to give support to, and cover the commence- 
ment of, the walls of those sides, which, with an inconsiderable 
exception, are evidently very ancient, and were probably 
executed by Robert, Consul or Earl of Gloucester." 

Outside the bank, along the north, south, and east fronts, was 
a moat or wet ditch fed by the Taff. The total area inside 
230 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

the castle wall was about lo acres, within the counterscarp of 
the moat about 13 acres. The whole place was strengthened 
by the raising of an earthwork some 32 feet high a little west of 
the centre of the north bank of the mound. The earthwork 
had a circular flat top some 36 yards across, upon which was 
built a shell keep, polygonal in shape, with twelve sides each 
about the same size, with walls 30 feet high and 9 feet thick, 
constructed of rolled pebbles. 

The entrance was by way of a gate-house, protected by 
a tower and portcullis. Altogether we may regard Cardiff 
Castle as a typical Norman structure of the shell-keep type. 

The Rectangular Keep 

Of this form Clark says : " The rectangular keep is, of all 
military structures, the simplest in form, the grandest in outline 
and dimensions, the sternest in passive strength, the most 
durable in design and workmanship, and, in most cases, by 
some years the earliest in date." 

Perhaps the noblest example of this type of fortress to be 
found in or near Wales is I^udlow Castle, in south Shropshire. 
The home of I^acys and of Mortimers, the residence of a king 
and the deathbed of a crown prince, the meeting-place of the 
notorious Council of Wales, the home of Milton when he 
wrote his Comus and of Butler when penning at least a part 
of Hudibras, this lovely marcher castle is full of historic 
associations. It has other claims upon the admiration of 
the wayfarer. Perched on a little hill, it looks down on the 
waters of the Corve and the Teme, which there flow swiftly 
enough to drive a little mill which nestles at the foot of the 
slope. On its other side, protected by an inner and an outer 
ward, it looks proudly over lyUdlow town, a strange little 
place full of mediaeval memories and quaint old-world 
courtesies. The castle is to-day, save for a small portion, 
uninhabited and little more than a ruin, but sufficient re- 
mains to show how strong these fortresses must have been 
in the days before gunpowder enabled the attacker to blow 
the walls up and send his men through the breach thus 

231 



HISTORY OF WALES 



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Pl,AN OF LUDI,OW CaSTI<E 



A Outer Ward. 


E Gate-house. 


I Oven Tower. 


B Middle Ward. 


F Chapel. 


J Postern Tower and well. 


c Inner Ward. 


G Kitchen. 


K Junction of town wall. 


D Keep. 


H Hall. 





made to victory and to tlie capture of the castle. Of course, 
as lyudlow Castle exists to-day it is more elaborate than the 
earliest castles of the rectangular keep type. It possesses 
232 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

the concentric defences found well-nigh universally in the 
Edwardian castles of a later age. 

A general description of this beautiful ruin, either as it now 
stands or as it was in the days of its glory, would lead us 
through too many pages, and too far away from the history 
of Wales. Gazing up at those mighty walls, now tinted by 
time into a wondrous harmony with the verdure of the hillside 
on which they stand, one can well believe that time after time 
the Welsh failed to take this stronghold. One can only 
wonder at the bravery of men who, lightly armed as these 
were, should have attempted to assail it.^ 

The Donjon Keep^ or Juliet 

As time went on the castle-builder, benefiting, no doubt, 
from the experience of the Crusaders, who had marvelled at 
the strength of Constantinople and had fallen in hundreds 
before the walls of many a Saracen stronghold, vastly improved 
the design and structure of the castle. By the end of Edward I's 
reign we may say that the type was perfected. We have in 
Wales perhaps one of the most perfect examples of this type 
ever built. Caerphilly, the castle to which we refer, must have 
been absolutely impregnable and irreducible except by famine 
or treachery. 

Apart from general improvements in design, several smaller 
inventions had strengthened the hand of the defender. Thus 
in the old days the defenders of a castle could not command 
with their arrows the ground immediately around the castle 
wall. Their archers could shoot in comparative safety in a 
horizontal direction, but if they leant over the walls to send 
their arrows downward they were promptly picked off by the 
besiegers. Again, the catapult and the trebuchet, of which we 
shall speak later, had but one trajectory. Either could throw 

1 The history of Ludlow Castle and a full description of it may be found 
in the works of Eyton, Wright, and Clark. 

2 The donjon, dunjon, or domgion is, according to Mr. Round, the moated 
moimd. That is, as we tmderstand him, a donjon keep was a keep placed 
on a motte. We use the term in the sense given to it by G. T. Clark, who 
regards the donjon keep as one guarded by towers of a cylindrical form. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

a stone a long way, but it could not throw it high up and at 
the same time a short distance forward. It could not, in other 
words, drop stones just over the castle walls on to the outside. 
Consequently, once the besiegers had reached the foot of the 
walls they were comparatively safe. They could start a 
breach in the walls at their leisure, or they could resort to 
fire. It was, however, early seen that to prevent breaches 
being fatal the stones of which castles were built should be 
small, so that the extraction of some with the aid of the 
bore or terebra would not cause the whole fabric to come 
down. 

The first invention designed to protect the ground around 
the castle walls was the brattice. This was composed of a 
staging of woodwork projecting outside the stonework, 
supported on beams fixed into the walls, and guarded on the 
outer side by a screen of stout planks. Through the floor holes 
were bored, and through these holes the archer could shoot in 
safety to the ground beneath. 

Another method which was adopted with signal success 
at Caerphilly was to surround the castle with water and 
horn-work, so that the enemy could not fight near at hand at 
all. Caerphilly is, indeed, so strongly designed and built that 
it is difficult, as we have said, to see how it could have been 
taken except through famine or by treachery. No attempt, 
indeed, was ever made to attack it before the invention of 
gunpowder, unless, perhaps, by William de la Zouche in 
1329 — and that attack, if ever made, was certainly 
unsuccessful. 

The whole idea of the later concentric type of castle of which 
we are now speaking seems, indeed, to have been to raise 
obstacles in the path of the enemy, so that however he attacked 
he would be at some moment of assault at the mercy of the 
defenders. At the same time the donjon keep, with its four 
circular towers at the corners of the keep, enabled the I 
defenders to concentrate their forces at the centre of the ' 
defences, from whence they could direct arrow and Greek fire 
(a dangerous defensive weapon, owing to the fact that the castle 

234 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

itself might be burnt) upon the attackers, from whichever 
direction they should come. 

As we have said, Caerphilly Castle represents the final word 




Pl<AN OF CaERPHII<I.Y CaSTI,E IN 1 842 

From G. T. Clark's A Description of the Castles of Kidwelly and Caerphilly. 

I North Brook ; 2 North Bank ; 3 Causeway ; 4 Outer Moat ; 
5 Platform ; 6 North I<ake ; 7 Redoubt ; 8 Inner Moat ; 9 Middle 
Ward; lo Inner Ward; 11 Grand Postern; 12 Covered way; 
13 South Postern ; 14 South Lake; 15 Bankof the lake ; 16 Horn- 
work; 17 Root of the peninsula. 

in castle-building. Erected in 1271 by Gilbert de Clare, Earl 
of Gloucester and Lord of Glamorgan, it stands on a spit of 
gravel in an artificial lake made by damming a small stream, 
the dam being adequately protected by outworks and towers. 
If reference is made to the plan above it will be seen that 

235 



HISTORY OF WALES 

there is an inner ward composed of a quadrangular enclosure. 
At the corners of the quadrangle are to be found four large 
towers, circular in shape and typical of the donjon keep. 
Rising above the curtain, in the middle of the east and the 
west fronts, are massive gate-houses. Encircling the inner 
ward is a middle ward, protected on the outside by a low 
curtain-wall, which could be completely dominated by archers 
on the walls of the inner ward. On the outside of these low 
walls the waters of the moat lap. The middle ward is con- 
nected with the outer ward by two wooden drawbridges 
connecting two causeways and giving access to the mainland 
on the east and west fronts. 

The outer ward was composed of works of quite different 
size and design North and south but few defences were 
necessary, the lake being so wide and deep that approach from 
those directions was almost impossible. On the east, however, 
the water being narrow, an imposing and extremely strong 
gate-house tower was built. From either side stretches 
north and south a high, strong curtain or castellated wall. 
Each end of the curtain ends in the water, and both ends are 
protected with towers. On the outside there is a separate 
moat, or, in other words, the curtain and gate-house tower are 
entirely surrounded by water. The outer ward was also so 
designed, being cut in two by a dividing wall, that if one 
end fell the other could still be defended successfully. 

On the western side the stonework was less powerful, but 
a natural advantage had enabled the builders to make that 
side extremely strong. Between the middle ward and the 
gate in the outer western wall will be observed a piece of 
horn-work with a low curtain rising but a little above the 
water. This part of the fortress is again completely surrounded 
by water. The attacker would have to cross a sheet of water, 
then cross the horn-work (during which time he would be in 
full view of the archers on the castle walls), then cross 
more water, climb a wall completely dominated by the 
donjons, cross a courtyard, and then commence to attack 
the keep. 
236 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

The Methods of Attack 

Even as to-day improvements in armour-plating have 
resulted in the production of projectiles of such wonderful 
piercing power that nothing at present known can resist them, 
so in mediaeval times advancements in castle-building caused 
developments in engines of attack, so that the reduction of 
all but the strongest and most elaborate castles was by no 
means impossible. 

A description of the more usual of these methods of attack 
may perhaps have an interest for the reader, and is certainly 
not impertinent in the history of a country in which castle- 
building and castle-razing played such a prominent part in 
the lives of the important men of the times. 

Castles were usually attacked by the Welsh in an open 
manner, reliance being placed upon sudden night assaults, 
which were either instantly successful or were complete 
failures. The attacking force, once in, relied in almost all 
cases upon fire as a means of reducing the castle to ruins. 
We can picture mentally some hardy chieftain leading a 
small and gallant band some dark and stormy night to the 
assault. Each man carried a scaling-ladder. These were 
placed against the outer walls ; once over, fuel, which was 
carried by each man, was piled against the most com- 
bustible parts, and once lit they trusted to the wind and to 
fortune to burn the lord and his retainers out of their 
stronghold. Sometimes treachery was at work, and then 
what we should call murder and assassination took the place 
of fire. There are, however, examples of developed attempts 
at castle-razing, when all the arts of war were put into 
operation in order to bring about the destruction of some 
hated stronghold. The methods then adopted we must now 
shortly describe. 

The most important arm in those days, particularly in 
South Wales, was the long-bow. In Giraldus' Itinerary we 
read that " the people of what is called Venta ^ are more 

^ Roughly speaking, South Wales. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

accustomed to war, more famous for valour,^ and more expert 
in archery than those of any other part of Wales. The 
following examples prove the truth of this assertion. In the 
last capture of the aforesaid castle [Abergavenny], which 
happened in our days, two soldiers passing over a bridge to 
take refuge in a tower built on a mound of earth, the Welsh, 
taking them in the rear, penetrated with their arrows the 
oaken portal of the tower, which was four fingers thick ; in 
memory of which circumstance the arrows were preserved in 
the gate. William de Breose also testifies that one of his 
soldiers, in a conflict with the Welsh, was wounded by an 
arrow, which passed through his thigh and the armour with 
which it was cased on both sides, and through that part of the 
saddle which is called the alva, mortally wounding the horse. 
Another soldier had his hip, equally sheathed in armour, 
penetrated by an arrow quite to the saddle, and on turning 
his horse round received a similar wound on the opposite hip, 
which fixed him on both sides of his seat." Our authority 
adds : " What more could be expected from a ballista ? Yet 
the bows used by this people are not made of horn, ivory, or 
yew, but of wild elm, unpolished, rude, and uncouth, but 
stout ; not calculated to shoot an arrow to a great distance, 
but to inflict very severe wounds in close fight." 

How far these bows could shoot effectively we do not know 
They probably had a much shorter range than the Turkish 
bow. With this latter weapon Mahmoud Effendij shot an 
arrow 482 feet in 1795, and Ingo Simon sent an arrow from a 
similar bow more than 459 feet in 1913. The modern record 
with the long bow, we believe, is 340 feet, made by Mr. Troward 
in 1798, but that was when archery had quite decayed, and 
probably does not equal the distances shot by archers trained 
from childhood in the use of the weapon for war. 

To get to close quarters with the defenders the attacking 
force employed an engine called a ' cat.' This was a wooden 
building in many tiers, which was so constructed that it could 

1 North Wales has, however, quite as many, if not more, examples to show 
of rugged bravery, 

238 




Pirate XXXVIII. Attack on a Castile 
Morris Meredith Williams 



2^8 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

be slowly pushed forward while full of men. It possessed the 
advantage of enabling the attacking archers to fight on a level 
with those guarding the walls. It had the disadvantage that 
Greek fire thrown from a trebuchet or catapult could destroy 
it, involving all the attackers in one dreadful disaster. 

If the castle were of such a form or construction that the 
near approach of archers was impracticable, two chief means 
alone remained of reducing it — apart from starvation and 
treachery. The one was by mining, the other by engines of 
attack designed either to breakdown the walls by hurling heavy 
weights against them or to set fire to the castle by throwing 
great quantities of ignited petroleum or Greek fire on to the 
roofs of the buildings. 

As regards mining, this, of course, was only possible where 
the siege was a protracted one. It was extremely difficult and 
dangerous in the case of a moated castle unless the moat had 
previously been drained, and there was always the possibility 
of the defenders counter-mining and catching the attackers like 
rats in a trap. The general aim of the miner was, of course, to 
dig out the foundations underground so that the walls of the 
castle fell, or to burrow right under the outer walls and outer 
wards, break out suddenly into the inner ward, and then, by a 
concerted rush, burst in upon and overwhelm the defenders, 
who would be defending the upper walls rather than the floor 
of the keep. In a properly designed castle such a perfect 
undermining would be well-nigh impossible, for the castle 
would be built either on rock which, in the days before 
explosives, could not be pierced, or upon made ground which 
would slide if undermined — though, as regards sliding, the 
miners were always careful to prop and pin with wood just as 
they do to-day in coal-mines. 

Engines of War 

If it were desired to reduce the castle by engines of war * 
the catapult or the ballista was used, or in later times the 

^ We rely for the major part of what follows upon Sir R. Payne-Gallwey's 
interesting monograph ehtitled Projectile-throwing Engines of the Ancients. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

trebucliet. Both of the first two weapons were used by the 
Greeks and Romans. The catapult was designed to throw 
heavy weights, the ballista to hurl mighty arrows, against the 
defenders or attackers, as the case might be. The attacking 
engine had to be placed at least 300 yards from the walls. The 
missiles had to be thrown over the walls, and the weapon must 
thus have had a range of from 400 to 500 yards. Josephus 
tells us that he witnessed a catapult throw stones weighing 




Catapui^t 
From II Codica Atlantico, Leonardo da Vinci. 

the equivalent of fifty-seven pounds a distance of two or more 
stades — i.e. from 400 to 500 yards. Agesistratus says that 
Greek catapults had a range of from 3I to 4 stades, or nearly 
half a mile. 

The catapult usually consisted of a heavy frame with a long 
arm fixed at one end in a skein of twisted rope or sinew. 
The other end had a cup or sling to hold the missile. This 
end was slowly pulled down by a rope passing round a hori- 
zontal bar rotated by the aid of winches. When sufficiently 
pulled down a catch was released, the arm sprang back, and 
on reaching the vertical struck a heavy bar of wood attached to 
the main framework. The arm being thus suddenly checked, 
the missile was hurled forward at a considerable speed. ^ 

1 The form of catapult described differs ia some particulars from that 
illustrated above. 

240 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

The use of the catapult must have required much practice, 
since it was innocent of all scientific means of sighting. 

The ballista was very similar in nature, and was really an 
immensely powerful bow, with arrows in proportion. lyco- 
nardo da Vinci in his II Codica Atlantico gives an illustration 
of a rather unusual type, which we reproduce. 




Bai^usta 
From // Codica A tlantico, l/conardo da Vinci. 

The trebuchet was an improvement upon the catapult, and 
was designed to throw greater weights than was possible in the 
case of the latter. It is said to have been introduced into siege 
operations by the French in the twelfth century. It was quite 
developed by 1280, when Egidio Colonna described it. It is the 
subject of one of I^eonardo's drawings in his II Codica Atlantico. 

The trebuchet differed in principle from the catapult in 
that the motive force was obtained by suddenly dropping a 
heavy weight instead of suddenly releasing the tension on a 
skein of twisted fibre. Almost any force could thus be 

Q 241 



HISTORY OF WALES 

obtained by making the weight sufficiently great. It is 
known to have been capable of throwing a 300-pound missile 
300 yards, and must have been an effective weapon of offence. 
We have now passed in review some of the main points 
connected with castles, the modes of defence, and the means 
of attack. With us these things are merely a matter of 
curiosity ; they form a subject over which we spend a more or 
less interesting half-hour. With the Welsh in mediaeval times 

they were the study of a lifetime ; 
they were matters of life and death. 

Before closing this chapter and 
returning to our account of the 
political history of Wales it is de- 
sirable to add that although the 
building of castles gave great power 
to the castellans and was an effective 
method of subduing a country, there 
is no reason to believe that they 
were used to torment or torture the 
generality of men. As we have said, 
the lord of a castle had immense 
power over the surrounding com- 
moners. His power was, indeed, so 
great that they were driven to seek his protection by be- 
coming his men. The late Professor Freeman took the view 
that the Norman castles were the object of a peculiar 
hatred on the part of the English and Welsh. He refers 
to their occupants as devils and evil men, and talks 
much about dungeons. There is no evidence, however, that 
the Normans were worse than their generation. There is no 
evidence that the English and Welsh castles contained those 
dreadful oubliettes so common in German castles, into which 
unhappy prisoners were flung to be forgotten, as the name 
informs us, and to be eaten to death by rats. That dungeons 
did exist is certain, but they were not underground. The 
prisoner was allowed plenty of light and air. Even the 
dungeon at Castel Coch, which Mr, Clark calls the worst in 
242 




The Trebuchet 



THE NORMAN CASTLES 

Britain, was not completely underground. The Normans did 
not, in fact, rely on harsh imprisonment as a mode of terroriz- 
ing. Mutilation and blinding — which were common in the 
tenth century alike in Wales and England and in France, as 
the reader of the letters of Abelard and Heloi'se will doubt- 
less remember — ^thumb-breaking, and, in more serious cases, 
hanging, were the methods adopted to procure obedience 
or to punish wrongdoers. In justice to the Normans we 
must remember that the Welsh were equally ready to practise 
similar cruelties — and that not merely on captured Normans, 
but upon their own people and their own relatives. 

We make these remarks, not in order to justify Norman 
aggression or Norman cruelty, but because it is very desirable 
to appreciate the fact that the Normans were fighting the 
Welsh princes rather than the Welsh people. Occasionally 
some act of aggression, some wrongful exaction, some injustice 
roused the men of Wales, and then they swept away castle 
after castle. For the most part, however, they lived under 
the Norman castellans quite as prosperously as under their 
own tribal chiefs. Again, it must be understood that through- 
out the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, although we shall 
speak of this or that Welsh prince ruling in Powys, Deheubarth, 
or Gwynedd, such princes had sworn fealty to the English 
king and had to recognize the presence of Norman lords in 
their territories. It is quite impossible to assert that after 
the operations of the earlier marcher lords Wales was com- 
pletely independent. It was not until the national movement 
under the Llywelyns, following upon the temporary break-up 
of the English polity under John, that the claim of complete 
independence was made — a claim which, as we shall see, was 
finally negatived by Edward I. 

Throughout all these years, however, although Welsh 
princes were placing their hands between those of English 
sovereigns, tendering homage and swearing fealty, the Welsh 
people lived on a separate nation, preserving their own peculiar 
characteristics and their inherent love of freedom. They 
have remained a separate nation from the English even to 

243 



HISTORY OF WALES 

this present date, when both Norman castles and Welsh 
princes have passed away. As lyord Chief Justice Crewe 
said : " Time hath his revolutions ; there must be a period and 
an end to all temporal things, an end of names and dignities, 
and whatsoever is terrene. And why not of De Vere ? For 
where is Bohun ? Where is Mowbray ? Where is Mortimer ? 
Nay, which is more, and most of all, where is Plantagenet ? " 

The castles have gone. No longer do men-at-arms walk the 
castle wards, or archers shape their arrows in the tower 
chambers ; life no longer clings around the castle wall ; 
princes no longer lead the Welsh to battle. But the Welsh 
nation is still a nation ; the Welsh language is still a living 
means of intercourse ; Welsh characteristics have proved 
stronger than the conqueror of Norman castles — Time. 



244 



CHAPTER XIV 

GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

UVED 1054-1137; REIGNED INTERMITTENTI^Y BETWEEN 

1075-1137 

THE prince whose life forms the subject of this chapter 
possessed qualities which require a fuller treatment 
than has been accorded in our earlier pages to the 
contemporary lords of Powys and Deheubarth. 

The writer of to-day is enabled to give some details of his 
life, since Gruffydd is the subject of a biography written, not 
improbably, shortly after his death. ^ This book, though ob- 
viously the work of a cleric prejudiced in favour of the prince 
whose life he is describing, is in the main historically accurate. 

Gruff ydd, whose father Cynan was rightfully king of 
Gwynedd, was born in Ireland, to which country Cynan 
retired during the ascendancy of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. 
Cynan, indeed, seems to have been almost unknown to the 
Welsh of the next generation, so that we sometimes find 
Gruffydd referred to as Gruffydd the grandson of lago. This 
lago was the son of Idwal ap Meurig, and was king of Gwynedd 
until 1039, when he was slain by his own men and was suc- 
ceeded by Gruffydd ap I^lywelyn. Though Cynan made 
certain attempts to regain his father's kingdom, they were all 
unsuccessful, and we find him contenting himself with a life 
of repose in exile. He married Ragnaillt, daughter of Olaf , 
king of Dublin, the son of King Sitruic of the Silken Beard. 

Gruffydd, the child of this union, was born in 1054 ^^ Dublin, 
in the religious foundation of the Church of Christ. He seems 

1 Mr. Arthur Jones' excellent edition of the Hanes Gruffydd ap Cynan has 
been mainly used in this chapter. 

24s 



HISTORY OF WALES 

to have been educated or reared at Swords, a short distance to 
the north of Dublin, though another account says that he was 
born and reared in the Church of Christ. 

Early in life he seems to have been spurred on by his mother 
to make an attempt to recover his rightful inheritance. She 
told him how Gwynedd, his own country, was being ruled by 
usurpers and tyrants, Cynwric ap Rhiwallon and Trahaearn 
ap Caradoc. These two princes had seized Gwynedd on the 
death of Bleddyn, Trahaearn claiming as Bleddyn's cousin 
and seizing Mon and Arvon, Cynwric ap Rhiwallon of Maelor 
making good his claim, apparently by force, to I^leyn. 

The First Expedition 

Gruffydd, fired by the recital of the wrongs which had been 
committed against him and his people, begged aid of the king 
of Dublin, which, to his joy, was readily granted. We find 
him setting out with many ships and Irish and Danish men 
to conquer Gwynedd. 

The expedition made for Abermenai, a port on the western 
end of the Menai Strait, near Caernarvon. Having landed, the 
young leader sent messengers to the men of Mon and Arvon 
and to certain important Welsh noblemen. He also sought 
aid from Robert of Rhuddlan. The reception accorded him 
showed that his countrymen were eager to throw off the 
supremacy of the usurpers. Robert of Rhuddlan promised 
aid, and, in fact, sent sixty of his best soldiers to help 
Gruffydd in the coming struggle. Gruffydd was also cheered 
by the prophecy of Tangwystyl, a prophetess, and a relation 
of his, who foretold that he would rule. 

Gruffydd now collected a small band of stalwarts, including 
the men Robert had supplied, and sent them under the leader- 
ship of the three sons of Merwydd to attempt the capture or 
destruction of Cynwric. The expedition was successful, and 
Einion, a youth of Arvon, brought the glad tidings to Gruffydd 
that Cynwric had been surprised and he and many of his 
followers slain. For the bringing of this good news Gruffydd 
rewarded the messenger with a beautiful woman, as he desired. 
246 



GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

Gruffydd now decided to lead his main host in person 
against the other usurper, Trahaearn, who was then at 
Meirionydd. The opposing forces met at a place called 
Gwaet Erw, or ' The Bloody Acre.' The result is thus 
described by the cleric biographer : " God granted [Gruffydd] 
victory over his enemies in that day, and many thousands fell 
on the part of Trahaearn, and he, lamenting, escaped with 
difficulty and a few [men] with him from the battle. Gruffydd 
and his host pursued him through plain and mountain to the 
borders of his own land [Powys]. Therefore Gruffydd was 
exalted from that day forth and was rightfully called King of 
Gwynedd." 

Gruffydd was not, however, as yet firmly established in his 
principality. Although doubtless he gained some fame and 
applause from his successful despoiling of Rhuddlan Castle, 
which we have already referred to,^he seems to have incurred 
the hatred of no inconsiderable portion of his own subjects. 
We read, indeed, that after his victory over Trahaearn he 
began " to pacify the kingdom and to organize the people and 
to rule them with a rod of iron." This, together with the 
ascendancy of his Irish mercenaries, probably accounts for the 
revolt which followed. 

Whatever the cause may be, we find the three sons of 
Merwydd leading the men of lyleyn against the leader whom so 
short a time before they had been aiding. The Irish retainers 
were attacked and many were slain. The evil news was soon 
carried to Trahaearn, who instantly determined to take 
advantage of the disaffection in Gruffydd's ranks. He, with 
Gwrgeneu ap Seisyll, joined in an attack on Gruffydd, valuable 
aid being rendered to the allies by the leaders of the revolt. 
Not only had lyleyn and the sons of Merwydd revolted, but 
the men of Eifyonydd also ' betrayed ' Gruffydd. In addition 
to this defection we read that Tewdwr and CoUwyn, leaders 
in Anglesey, also turned against Gruffydd. 

Gruffydd was now hard pressed. He had only the men of 
M6n and Arvon and a few Danes and Irishmen to assist him. 

1 See p. 1 86. 

247 



HISTORY OF WALES 

With these, however, he went to meet his enemies. In the 
fight which ensued we read that " King Gruffydd sat on his 
horse in his troop with his flashing sword mowing both traitors 
and enemies, Uke Agamemnon, King of Phrygia, of old in the 
fight of Troy. Then Tewdwr, a youth from Anglesey, arch- 
betrayer of Gruffydd, approached with streaming sword and 
moved aside to come to his saddle-bow behind his saddle." 

The attempted murder was prevented by one of Gruffydd' s 
knights, who persuaded his prince to give up the unequal 
struggle and take ship for Ireland. 

Second Expedition 

On his return to Ireland Gruffydd was urged to renew his 
attempt at conquest. This time he was furnished with a fleet 
of thirty ships full of Irishmen and Danes. Again he made 
for Abermenai, where he disembarked his men. 

Trahaearn, anticipating attack, sought to strengthen his 
position by retreating to Meirionydd, where he concentrated 
his forces. Gruffydd, on the other hand, withdrew his followers 
who lived in I^leyn and Arvon to Mon, together with their 
property. A plan which made for safety when an attack from 
Trahaearn was anticipated had the unfortunate result of 
putting near to the piratical Danes, who had accompanied 
him from Ireland, much booty. They promptly took advan- 
tage of the opportunity, and, despite Gruffydd's refusal to 
permit them to plunder the Welsh, seized all the spoil they 
could and carried it and their leader off to Ireland. 

It was about this time that the Norman lords Fat Hugh 
of Chester, Robert of Rhuddlan, and Walter de I^acy, led by 
Gwrgeneu ap Seisyll, traversed the mountains of Eryri and 
ravaged lyleyn, so that, in the words of the biographer, " the 
country was a desert for eight years . . . the inhabitants of this 
country were scattered portionless and needy into the world." 

Third Expedition 

Gruffydd again succeeded in raising a force in Ireland, being 
aided by Diarmiad mac Mael-na-mbo. He gradually assembled 
248 



GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

a fleet manned by Danes, Irishmen, and Britons, and he set 
sail again for Wales in 1081, some six years after the revolt of 
the men of I^leyn. This time contrary winds carried him to 
Porthclais, near St. David's, where he was met by Rhys, king 
of Deheubarth. 

The meeting of the two dispossessed kings as recounted by 
Gruffydd's biographer is interesting, and we relate it in the words 
of the old-time scribe. Rhys, hastening to meet Gruff ydd, fell 
on his knees, saying, " * Welcome Gruffydd, king of the kings 
of Wales. To you I fly. Before you I fall upon my knees to 
beseech your help and your support.' ' Who are you ? ' said 
Gruffydd, ' and wherefore are you come hither ? ' 'I am 
Rhys,' said he, ' son of Tewdwr, lord of this dominion a little 
while ago, and now I am as an outcast and a fugitive, and 
almost a nonentity, hiding in this sanctuary.' ' Who is it that 
put you to flight ? ' quoth Gruffydd. ' My lord,' said the 
other, ' three kings of the chief lands of Wales with their hosts 
descended upon my provinces lately, and daily they are 
plundering it.' ' Who,' said Gruffydd, ' are the kings who go 
among thy people and thy possessions in so warlike a manner 
as this ? ' ' Caradoc ap Gruffydd,' said he, ' of Gwent Uch 
Coed and Iscoed, and the men of Gwent, and the men of 
Glamorgan, and many Norman arbalisters with them ; Meilir 
ap Rhiwallon and the men of Powys with him, King Trahaearn 
and the men of Arwystli.' 

" When Gruffydd heard the name of the usurper, he snorted 
with rage, and demanded of him [Rhy^] what he would give 
him for fighting on his behalf against these men. ' Verily,' 
said Rhys, ' the half of my kingdom I will give you, and 
besides this I will do homage to you.' " 

The terms seem to have been satisfactory to Gruffydd, who 
truly had little to lose by a compact of such a nature. The 
two princes took an oath of alliance on relics, and, this sacred 
ceremony having been performed, hastened to attack their 
enemies. Gruffydd's opponents were Trahaearn, Meilyr ap 
Rhiwallon, and Caradog ap Gruffydd. The exact site of the 
battle which resulted has not been finally determined. We 

249 



HISTORY OF WALES 

will accept the identification of it with Mynydd Carn Ingle, 
near Newport, in Pembroke, as correct. Certain it is that the 
battle, known as the battle of Mynydd Carn, had an important 
effect upon Welsh history. 

Gruffydd's host, which had left St. David's, after having 
received the blessing of Bishop Sulien, " the wisest of 
the Britons," came up with the enemy about eventide. 
The more timid Rhys seems to have wished to postpone 
the struggle until the next day. " I/ord, let us delay the 
battle until the morrow, for it is evening now and the day 
is spent," we hear him exclaim. Gruffydd replied: "You 
delay it if you desire : I am for battle and shall charge upon 
them." 

True to his resolve, Gruffydd, who, we are informed, was 
" very brave in battle," rushed into the fray. His men, 
including the "Irish black-devils" and Danes, armed with 
two-edged axes and iron flails, struck terror into the enemy, 
approaching as they did through the twilight. It is evident 
that the men of Powys did not give way without a struggle. 
In the result, however, victory lay with Gruffydd. Meilyr and 
Caradog were both slain. Of Trahaearn we are told that he 
was " pierced in the centre until he was on the ground dying, 
biting with his teeth the long grass, and groping about to 
come upon his weapons ; and Gweharis, the Irishman, made 
bacon of him as of a pig." 

Gruffydd, as usual, followed up his victory with vigour. He 
and his followers pursued the beaten army " through groves 
and glens and marshes and mountains throughout that night 
by the moon and throughout the following day." The losses 
then incurred by the Welsh of the south and east must have 
crippled Powys and South Wales for many years. 

In this pursuit of the vanquished Rhys does not appear to 
have taken part. Indeed, we read that, fearing treachery on 
the part of Gruffydd, he retired secretly from the battle about 
the time " when man and bush had the same colour." The 
reason for this defection is not clear ; the result was the 
harrying of Rhys' possessions. 
250 



GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

Gruffydd a Prisoner 

Gruffydd now seems to have indulged in a plundering 
expedition. We read of his devastating Arwystli, destroying 
and slaying the peasantry, bearing into captivity its women 
and maidens. He then turned his attention to Powys, " where 
he showed on the journey cruelty to his opponents," and 
again we read, " he spared not so much as the churches." 
Whether this impious act turned the tide of fortune we know 
not, but shortly afterward Gruffydd was a victim of the plot 
which resulted in his imprisonment in Fat Hugh's city of 
Chester for many years 

We are told that " as he was enjoying the kingdom according 
to custom, Meirion the Red, his baron, was stirred by an 
arrow of the devil and accused him before Earl Hugh of 
Chester." Meirion succeeded in enticing Gruffydd to an 
unprotected place at Edeyrnyon to meet Hugh of Chester 
and Hugh (? Roger) of Shrewsbury. Gruffydd's "foreigners" 
went with him. In the result Gruffydd was seized and 
dragged off to Chester Gaol, where he was placed in the 
worst cell. The thumbs of the " foreigners " (probably the 
Irish and Danish mercenaries) were broken so that in future 
they could not use the bow or direct the spear. 

This imprisonment, which commenced in 1081, lasted prob- 
ably until 1093. In the meantime the Normans pushed ahead 
with their castle-building in North Wales, as we have seen. 

We are now introduced to the romantic story of Cynwric 
the Tall, who, while on a visit to Chester to buy necessaries, 
saw his king sitting in the market-place loaded with chains, 
an object of derision. It was dinner-time and the burgesses 
were indoors eating. Cynwric seized his opportunity, lifted 
up the fettered king, and bore him away unperceived. The 
most daring part of the rescue having been performed safely, 
we find Cynwric maintaining his lord secretly in his house 
while Gruffydd regained his strength. As soon as Gruffydd 
could bear the toil of travelling he was taken by night to 
Anglesey, where he was supported by Sandef, son of Aere. 

251 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Thence he escaped to Ireland, to return soon after with 
more Irish aid. Again he made for Abermenai, but con- 
trary winds took him to Forth Honddu, in Deheubarth. 
We find him attacked and hunted by the men of Deheu- 
barth (probably the Normans), so that he was compelled 
to flee to Ardudwy, where, we read, " men pitied him and 
ministered to him secretly in desert caves." As time went 
on followers slowly joined him, and he was soon powerful 
enough to lead a plundering expedition against Earl Hugh. 
As yet, however, he had not the resources to carry on the 
struggle, and again he made Ireland his sanctuary. 

Fifth Expedition 

From Ireland he seems to have passed over to the Isle of 
Man, where he sought and obtained aid from King Guthrie. 
Setting out with a considerable fleet of sixty ships, he landed 
in Anglesey, where he fought an indecisive battle with the 
Normans. Unable to make good his footing, he again set 
sail, his fleet making for the Islands. Gruffydd himself broke 
away from the rest of the fleet, anchored off the Skerries, near 
Holyhead, and from thence attacked and despoiled a ship 
coming from Chester and slew its crew. On the next day we 
find him landing at Port Nevin, in I^leyn, where he was welcomed 
by the men of lyleyn, Eifyonydd, Ardudwy, Arvon, Rhos, and 
Dyffryn Clwyd. 

These were the men who would have felt most directly the 
Norman advances, and who would have suffered most from 
the new lords of the castles at Rhuddlan, Deganwy, and 
elsewhere. We find Gruff ydd now setting out on a campaign 
of castle destruction. The Brut under date 1092 (corrected 
date 1094) tells us that in that year the Britons demolished 
the Norman castles in Gwynedd. The biographer of Gruff ydd 
tells us that about this time (the dates are a difficulty if 
Gruff ydd was a prisoner for twelve years) " he delivered 
Gwynedd from castles." The two references are probably 
concerned with the same campaign. 

The first attack was directed against the new castle at 
252 



GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

Aberlleiniog. After a lengthy resistance it was eventually 
destroyed and its steward and many knights killed. This 
battle is also noteworthy for that Gellan, or Crellan, " chief 
harpist and musician of Gruff ydd's fleet," was then slain. 
This Crellan is referred to in the Triads as one of the three 
chief performers on the harp. It may be that he was the 
inspirer of Gruffydd's love of music which caused him to effect 
improvements in the laws relating to that art and to attempt 
to introduce the Irish pipe to his countrymen — an attempt 
which was not, however, very successful. 

The rising tide of revolt passed on. Castle after castle was 
destroyed in Gwynedd. In Powys similar deeds were being 
done. Castles at Shrewsbury and Montgomery were burned. 
The men of South Wales swept away well-nigh every castle, 
save those at Pembroke and Rhyd y Gors. The whole revolt 
was probably not unconnected with the absence of William II 
in Normandy, where he had gone in the spring of 1094, and 
the rebellion against Rufus in 1095 headed by Robert of 
Northumberland. Roger de lyacy was concerned in this 
rebellion, and on its suppression was disinherited and exiled. 

William Rufus invades North Wales 

As soon as Rufus had re-established his position he deter- 
mined to aid the marcher lords of Wales to recover their 
supremacy. We therefore find him assembling a considerable 
army. He pushed on in the autumn of the year (a fatal 
mistake, as Henry II was to discover at a later time), and by 
November had reached Mur y Castell, in northern Ardudwy. 
According to Gruffydd's biographer, William's intention was 
to subdue the Welsh completely, or, as he puts it, " destroy 
utterly all of the people until there should be alive not so 
much as a dog." If this were indeed his intention he was 
singularly unsuccessful in realizing it. Gruffydd, adopting a 
plan of campaign which he and his sons often repeated in 
future years with similar success, collected his forces, placed 
ambushes and obstacles in the defiles and other places where 
they could be used most advantageously, and generally 

253 



HISTORY OF WALES 

harassed the advancing army, at the same time withdrawing 
all the people inhabiting the line of march, with their property 
and food-stuffs, so that Rufus cannot but have found it almost 
impossible to feed his army, now some considerable distance 
from its base. 

The result was that Rufus, realizing that the winter coming 
on would prove fatal to his expedition, determined to retire 
to Chester. The campaign was a hopeless failure, and, as the 
biographer says, " he did not take with him any kind of 
profit or gain except one cow." 

Conflict with the Marcher Lords 

The Welsh, elated at the failure of the king's attempt at 
conquest, continued their general campaign of castle-razing. 
In the south they were successful: Rhyd y Gors fell and 
Pembroke was closely beset. In the north, however, Barl 
Hugh of Chester joined with Hugh of Shrewsbury and made a 
determined attempt to break the power of Gruff ydd. Gruff ydd 
called in the aid of Cadwgan and Maredudd of Powys, and 
these leaders adopted the policy of withdrawing the people of 
Gwynedd to Anglesey, where they defended themselves " as 
in a stronghold surrounded by the ocean." They also called 
to their aid Irish and Danish mercenaries, who came in sixteen 
long-keeled ships to the aid of Gruffydd. 

The two earls soon made their appearance near Anglesey. 
We pause to observe the ease with which the marcher lords 
could strike across Wales compared with the difficulty which 
Norman kings found in doing the same thing. Whatever may 
be the reason for the earls' easy and unopposed march (the fact 
that Gruffydd had retired with his men does not remove our 
difficulty, for we ask, Why did he find it necessary to retire 
when he had resisted so successfully King William, as in later 
times his son resisted King Henry II ?), they were shortly in a 
position to attack Anglesey. They seem to have feared the 
Irish mercenaries, so that we find them offering the Irish 
the tempting bait of unlimited plunder if they would fail 
Gruffydd at the critical moment. The Irish agreed. The 
254 



GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

earls attacked, and Gruff ydd and Cadwgan, deceived and 
betrayed by their mercenaries, abandoned the struggle and 
fled to Ireland. 

The battle seems to have continued despite their absence. 
Suddenly there appeared sailing over the sea a royal fleet. 
King Magnus the Barefoot, one of Norway's boldest plunderers, 
swept down on the island. Hearing how the islanders had 
been betrayed and deserted, he determined to aid them, and 
forthwith attacked the Normans. A Halogalander shot an 
arrow at Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury which bent the nose-screen 
of the earl's helmet ; Magnus himself at the same moment 
sped an arrow straight and true which, finding a way through 
the damaged helmet, entered Hugh's eye and stretched him 
dead upon the sea-lapped sands. 

Magnus and his followers then attacked and killed many of 
the Normans, so that " they fell from their horses like fruit 
from its branches." The Norwegian now appears to have 
thought that honour was satisfied, and, weighing anchor, he 
and his knights melted away into the distance like a dream, as 
it might have seemed, had it not been that stark witnesses of 
his presence gazed sightless up into the heavens. Earl Hugh 
lay slain and many of his followers. 

The Normans were now, however, in undisputed possession 
of Mon. They mercilessly ravaged the island, and many 
captives were taken. As we have said, the Normans had 
promised the Irish much plunder and many slaves, men, 
women, youths, and maidens. We are told in a quaint passage 
how the Normans redeemed their promise. Hugh of Chester 
acted toward the Irish " like a faithful man to unfaithful, for 
he succeeded in collecting all the toothless, deformed, lame, 
one-eyed, troublesome, feeble hags and offered them to them 
in return for their treachery." The scribe naively adds ; 
" When they saw this, they loosened their fleet and made for 
the deep toward Ireland." 

Gruffydd returned in the year following from Ireland to 
find Anglesey deserted. He made peace with Earl Hugh and 
received a small allotment of laud. But the succeeding years 



HISTORY OF WALES 

were bitter ones for him. His pride was broken, and, in the 
words of his biographer, " he spent his Hfe for some years in 
poverty and misery, hoping for the future providence of God." 

Gruffydd's Rise to Power 

This was in 1099. We believe that the change did not 
come in Gruffydd's life and in the affairs of Gwynedd until 
the death of Earl Hugh in iioi. Even then it is probable 
that his return to the old position of lord of Gwynedd was a 
slow and painful one. His biographer slurs over these years, 
so that we may be sure his hero was not accomplishing great 
things. That Gruffydd was slowly extending his power, how- 
ever, appears from the fact that Henry I is found leading an 
expedition against him and the princes of Powys. The bio- 
grapher also tells us that after a visit to Henry's court he 
was granted the cantrefs of lyleyn, Eifyonydd, Ardudwy, and 
Aillechwdd, and that thereafter " everything prospered before 
Gruffydd, and on all sides he freed everything before Gwynedd, 
and daily there slipped to him others from Rhos, and their 
possessions with them." Unfortunately neither the Brut nor 
Florence of Worcester confirms this account, but both state 
that Gruffydd's first visit to Henry's court took place in 
1116 — that is to say, after Henry's invasion. 

However this may be, in 11 14 Henry raised a considerable 
force for the Welsh wars. The army of invasion came from 
south, centre, and north. Alexander of Scotland and the 
young Earl Richard of Chester led the northern contingent, 
which took the north coast road. Henry led the centre, which 
was joined at Mur y Castell by the southern contingent, and 
the combined force pushed on along the Roman road crossing 
the Berwyn range. Maredudd of Powys, fearing the strength 
arrayed against him, made peace with Henry, but Owain 
ap Cadwgan, who, as we have seen, was not the man to fear 
to take risks, retired with his people and possessions to Eryri. 
As for Gruffydd, we are told that, " according to his experience 
in warfare, [he] took up a position in the arms of snowclad 
Snowdon." 
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GRUFFYDD AP CYNAN 

We are in doubt as to what engagements took place, if any. 
The Welsh princes seem to have offered peace on terms. The 
English king on his part doubtless had little relish for guerrilla 
warfare among the forests and glens of Snowdonia. Peace 
was made, Gruffydd lost no territory, but recognized Henry 
as overlord ; made homage ; swore fealty and paid a heavy 
fine. Henceonward Gruffydd seems to have realized that 
Henry was too strong to be opposed, and, like a wise man, 
realizing the strength of the other side, he determined to 
court the favour of his powerful overlord. 

We believe that this is the explanation of the prosperity of 
the succeeding years in Gwynedd. Gruffydd continuously 
pursued the policy of friendship with the English court. In 
the year following he surrendered Gruffydd ap Rhys, who had 
fled to him for safety, to the English. In 1116 he visited the 
English court, where we are told Henry entertained him 
" splendidly." In 1121, although the biographer makes 
Gruffydd a party to the opposition to Henry's second invasion, 
it is probable that the Annales and the Brut are right in saying 
that Gruffydd took no part in it, and, in fact, threatened active 
hostihty against any Powysians who sought safety within his 
dominions. He seems to have pursued the same policy of 
peaceful friendship with the king of Ireland, so that his realm 
was freed from the evils resulting from frequent piratical raids. 
At the same time he stationed his sons (who included Owain 
Gwynedd, one of the greatest of the Princes of Gwynedd in 
after-years) on the border, so that attacks from rival princes 
could be checked before his people were plundered or his 
country devastated. 

The result of these wise measures was a period of great 
prosperity for Gwynedd. As his biographer says, " He 
increased all manner of good in Gwynedd, and the inhabitants 
began to build churches in every direction therein, and to 
plant the old woods and to make orchards and gardens and 
surround them with walls and ditches, and to construct walled 
buildings, and to support themselves from the fruit of the 
earth after the manner of the Romans. Gruffydd on his part 

R 257 



HISTORY OF WALES 

made great churches for himself in his chief places, and 
constructed courts and [gave] banquets constantly and 
honourably. Wherefore, he also made Gwynedd gUtter then 
with limewashed churches like the firmament with stars. He 
ruled his people with a rod of iron." 

Gruffydd was now growing old. In his later years he lost 
his sight, and we find, as we should expect, the direction of all 
military affairs falling to his sons Cadwallon, Owain, and 
Cadwalader, who, as we shall see, greatly strengthened the 
position of Gwynedd, though, indeed, Cadwalader was to prove 
far less worthy than his elder brothers. As time went on 
Gruffydd devoted his energies to works of mercy. He became 
a munificent benefactor of churches and religious foundations, 
and when at last he died, in 1137, at the very advanced age 
(for that time) of eighty-two, he left many bequests to reli- 
gious houses, including twenty shillings to the Church of Christ 
in Dublin, where he was born.^ 

^ It was in the time of Gruffydd that the Flemings came to Dyf ed. The Brut 
has the following account of the settlement under date 11 05 (the better date is 
H08) : "A certain nation, not recognized in respect of origin and manners, 
and unknown as to where it had been concealed in the island for a number of 
years, was sent by King Henry into the country of Dyf ed. And that nation 
seized the whole cantred of Rhos, near the efflux of the river called Cleddy v, 
having driven off the people completely. That nation, as it is said, was 
derived from Flanders. . . . This was on account of the encroachment of 
the sea on their country, the whole region having been reduced to disorder 
and bearing no produce, owing to the sand cast into the land by the tide of 
the sea. At last, when they could get no space to inhabit, as the sea had 
passed over the maritime land, and the mountains were full of people, so 
that all could not dwell there on account of the multitude of men, and the 
scantiness of the land, that nation craved of King Henry and besought him 
to assign a place where they might dwell. And then they were sent into 
Rhos, expelling from thence the proprietary inhabitants, who thus lost their 
own country and place from that time until the present day." 



258 



CHAPTER XV 

OWAIN GWYNEDD 

1137-1170 

THE years 1135-37 saw the deaths of Henry I of 
England and Gruffydd ap Cynan and Gruffydd ap 
Rhys of Wales. The death of the powerful Henry was 
instantly taken advantage of by the Welsh, who appear to 
have decided to make one great effort to rid themselves of 
their Norman conquerors. The uprising does not seem to 
have been entirely unexpected by the strangers resident in 
Wales, for according to Giraldus Cambrensis many of the 
Flemings of Dyf ed, anticipating that the storm which threatened 
must shortly break and destroy them, had sold their possessions 
and abandoned their country of adoption for ever. 

Their foresight was soon shown. Almost immediately after 
the death of Henry we find Howel ap Maredudd attacking the 
Norman and English colonists in Gower. A battle was fought 
somewhere near Swansea in 11 36, in which the Welsh were 
victorious and inflicted a very heavy loss (for those days) upon 
their opponents. The news of the victory seems to have 
travelled with the rapidity of a forest fire. For the colonists 
it was hardly less terrible in its results. Gruffydd ap Rhys, 
who had struggled so long to rid Deheubarth of the Normans, 
now decided to adventure one more blow in the cause of 
freedom. To make more sure of success he appealed for help 
to Gwynedd, now, as we have seen, a flourishing and happy 
state under the peaceful rule of Gruffydd ap Cynan. Gruftydd 
of Gwynedd seems also to have realized that, the lion of 
England being dead, the time had come to rise up against the 
Normans. It was perhaps hardly Gruffydd who had the 

259 



HISTORY OF WALES 

deciding of the matter. Old and blind as he was, he had 
ceased to take any active part in the government of his country. 
The mantle of power had descended, however, on to shoulders 
quite as strong as his had been. Owain Gwynedd, so called 
to distinguish him from his contemporary Owain Cyfeiliog, 
was, as we shall see, a brave fighter, a valiant leader, a clear 
thinker, and a strong ruler. These qualities, only too rare in 
the princes of Wales, enabled him, in later years, to do great 
things for his country. 

The journey of Gruff ydd ap Rhys to Gwynedd was not 
fruitless. The sons of Gruffydd ap Cynan agreed to join him, 
and together the allies arranged to descend upon the Normans 
of the south. During Gruffydd ap Rhys' absence a misfortune 
had, however, befallen the Welsh arms. Gruffydd's lady, 
Gwenllian, spurred on by a patriot's zeal, had led a Welsh 
army against the castle of Cydweli (Kidwelly). The attempt 
was doomed to utter failure. Her army was attacked by 
Maurice, the Norman leader, and routed. The brave Amazon 
was herself slain, together with her young son Morgan, while 
another son was captured. 

Attacks upon the South Wales Marchers 

Retribution quickly followed. The Norman leader in 
Ceredigion, Richard de Clare,^ who had paid an unsuccessful 
visit to Stephen's court to request aid in defending the Norman 
possessions in South Wales, was returning to his lordship. 
Used to the peaceful times of Henry I, he seems to have 
ignored the warnings of Brian de Wallingford,^ who had told 
him of the dangerous condition of affairs and had urged him 
to accept an armed escort. Richard de Clare, ignoring the 
warnings, plunged on into the woods, preceded by a minstrel 
and a singer, the former accompanying the latter on the 
fiddle, and protected only by a few followers. Murder over- 
took him in the thick woods of the vale of the Gronwy 
at Coed Grono, or Grwyne. One of the Welsh chronicles 
assigns the deed to Morgan ap Owain, a man of good i 
1 Richard fitz Gilbert. » Brian fitz Count. * 

260 



ll 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

family and position, who had been wronged by Richard de 
Clare. 

The Welsh now finally decided to combine and drive the 
Norman from Ceredigion. Owain and Cadwalader, sons of 
Gruffydd ap Cynan, and Howel ap Maredudd and Madog ap 
Idnerth seem to have allied themselves for the campaign, 
which took place in the early part of 1136. Toward the end 
of the year they were joined by Gruffydd ap Rhys. 

The monk who wrote the Brut y Tywysogion gets quite 
hysterical with joy when describing the advance of the men 
of Gwynedd. Owain and Cadwalader are proclaimed to be 
" the ornament of all the Britons, their safety, their liberty, 
and their strength ; the men who were two noble and two 
generous kings ; two dauntless ones ; two brave lions ; two 
blessed ones ; two eloquent ones ; two wise ones ; protectors 
of the churches and their champions ; the defenders of the 
poor ; the slayers of the foes . . . the safest refuge to all who 
should flee to them ; the men who were pre-eminent in energies 
of souls and bodies ; and jointly upholding in unity the whole 
kingdom of the Britons." Writing at lylanbadarn, he was near 
the scene of the exploits of his heroes, and seems to have 
viewed with unalloyed delight the ridding of the land of the 
Normans. 

The first success gained was the burning of the castle of 
Walter de Bee at Llanfihangel. Thence the Gwyneddians 
marched to Aberystwyth, where they attacked and destroyed 
the castle of the Clares. It was now that the men of Gwynedd 
were joined by Howel and Madog. The castles of Richard de 
la Mere, of Dineirth, and of Caerwedros at lylwyn Dafydd were 
swept away. 

Destruction of Cardigan Town 

For the moment there was a breathing-space. The Welsh 
returned to their homes laden with booty. But the respite 
was a short one. Toward the close of the year the allies, 
whose forces, as we have seen, were now augmented by those 
of Gruffydd ap Rhys, prepared to complete the work so well 

261 



HISTORY OF WALES 

begun. They now had at their disposal an army which, 
according to the Brut y Tywysogion, was composed of 6000 
fine infantry and 2100 cavalry fully armed. The allies seem 
to have decided to strike at the Normans of South Wales in 
the stronghold of their power — Cardigan. We find the two 
armies meeting at Crug Mawr, near the mouth of the Teifi. 
The Normans, led by Stephen, constable of the castle, were 
supported by Robert fitz Martin, lord of Cemais, the sons of 
Gerald the Steward, William fitz Ore, and the Flemings and 
marcher settlers and the French from Aber Nedd to Aber teifi. 

The battle which followed resulted in a glorious victory for 
the Welsh. The Normans broke and fled. Many were killed 
in the panic which followed, others were taken captive, and 
more than a thousand were drowned in the river Teifi owing 
to a bridge breaking as they were attempting to cross. The 
town of Cardigan was fired, and many a refugee who had fled 
from the battle was burnt in the town in which he had sought 
refuge. The castle, however, still stood. The Welsh contented 
themselves for the present with carrying away the costly spoil 
which was theirs as the fruit of their victory. 

The unhappy refugees in Cardigan Castle were now in a 
parlous state. Stephen, unlike Henry I, was not the man to 
bring the Welsh to their knees. Yet something had to be 
done, and so we find him persuading Miles of Gloucester to 
undertake the relief of Cardigan Castle. Miles was successful 
in rescuing the widow of Richard fitz Gilbert and her people, 
but little else was done to avenge the destruction of the town I 
of Cardigan. A punitive expedition was, it is true, fitted out 
shortly afterward, but it came to nothing. 

Renewed Welsh Attack Successful 

In the following year (1137) the Welsh attack was renewed. 
Gruffydd ap Rhys raided the Flemish settlement in Dyfed 
and Rhos. The further progress of Gruffydd was stopped by 
his untimely death. How he died we do not know. At about 
the same time his namesake in the north also departed to the 
shades. He, however, had long been in retirement, and his 
262 



I! 




PXATE XIv. Basingwerk Abbey 
Photo Lettsome 6^ Sons, Llangollen 



262 



Ce 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

death did not stay for a moment the operations of Owain and 
his brothers. 

These energetic leaders of the men of Gwynedd again made 
Ceredigion the scene of their operations. Castles were burned 
at Ystrad Meurig and Llanstephen, Castle Humphry was 
also destroyed and Caermarthen was captured. The capture 
of this last fortress was, of course, an immense gain. A royal 
stronghold, its fall placed the whole of south-western Wales 
in the power of the captors and prevented the sending of any 
help to the recaptured provinces from England. Though it 
was invested in 1137, and although attacks were made on it 
by sea as well as by land, it did not fall for several years, but 
in the meantime Ceredigion was at the mercy of the attackers, 
who parcelled it out among the princes of Gwynedd or their 
natural children. 

The Welsh now seem to have rested on their laurels. The 
Norman having been overcome, the Welsh princes are soon 
found fighting among themselves. We read that Cynvrig, 
son of Owain, was killed by the family of Madog ap Maredudd. 
Maredudd ap Howel was slain by the sons of Bleddyn in the 
year following. The two succeeding years saw the death of 
several more Welsh princes, and finally, in 1143, Anarawd, 
Gruffydd ap Rhys' eldest son, a youth of bright promise, 
" the hope and strength and glory of the men of South Wales," 
was killed by Cadwalader or his family. 

This most impolitic act of folly brought down upon 
Cadwalader his brother Owain's anger. We can well under- 
stand Owain's distress. The house of Deheubarth had been 
his allies in the patriotic revolt of the preceding years. 
Anarawd was about to marry Owain's daughter. The whole 
success of the Welsh movement of independence depended 
upon the united action of the leaders of the Welsh royal 
houses. Owain seems to have taken the strongest view of 
Cadwalader's folly. The younger brother was, in fact, driven 
out of Ceredigion and had his castle at Aberystwyth burnt. 
Owain's anger even went further, and Cadwalader had to fly 
to Ireland to obtain the aid of mercenaries in order to prevent 

263 



HISTORY OF WALES 

himself being driven into permanent exile. Owain now seems 
to have felt that enough had been done to avenge the death 
of Anarawd, and a reconciliation was effected with his brother. 

Position in North Wales and Powysland 

What exactly had been happening in parts of Wales other 
than those we have been considering we do not know. England 
was, of course, by now in the throes of the conflict which 
raged between Matilda and Stephen ; a conflict in which the 
marcher lords were mainly on the side of Matilda (in this 
connexion it is interesting to note that the Welsh chronicler 
refers to Stephen in complimentary terms ; he evidently hated 
the marchers more than the king). The result can but have 
been a weakening of the marcher grip on North and Central 
as well as Southern Wales. Again, Owain was certainly not a 
prince to let such a chance slip by. As to any actual victories 
or gains, we must, however, admit that the sources are almost 
silent on the point. ^ 

The years 1143 and 1144 saw the Welsh forward movement 
checked in some measure. In 1144, the year which saw the 
drowning of some Welsh Crusaders in " the sea of Greece," the 
Normans gained a little of the ground which they had lost 
in the years immediately preceding. Thus Hugh fitz Raulf 
(Ranulf of Chester) repaired the castles of Gemacon and 
Colwyn, and reconquered Maelienydd and Blvael. In the 
year following Hugh Mortimer of Wigmore imprisoned Rhys 
ap Howel, one of the Welsh leaders, and captured many of 
his followers. 

In the south, on the other hand, the Welsh, under the leader- 
ship of Owain's sons, were still pursuing their victorious way. 
Aberteifi was ravaged and much booty taken. A pitched 
battle seems to have been fought and won. A severe check 
to the Welsh successes was given, however, by Gilbert fitz 
Gilbert, who appears in 1145 to have reconquered Dyfed and 
to have rebuilt the castle of Caermarthen and another castle 

^ For some notes on minor engagements, such as the capture of Bromfield 
Castle, near Wrexham, see Lloyd, History of Wales, vol. ii, p. 477. 

264 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

which is described in the Brut as belonging to the son of 
Uchtryd. 

Meanwhile the men of Gwynedd had been pressing forward 
in the north. In 1146 Ranulf, now Barl of Chester, is found 
appealing to his king for support. The royal advisers appear 
to have regarded this very reasonable request as a traitorous 
trap laid by Ranulf against the safety of Stephen, and as a 
consequence the earl was seized and cast into prison. The 
result was that the Welsh were enabled to capture yet another 
Norman stronghold. At the close of the year Mold fell into 
their hands. This success (the chroniclers tell us that it 
had been frequently attacked without success) brought Owain 
out of the fit of deep melancholy into which he had been cast 
by the death of his son Rhun, who is described in the Brut as 
" the most praiseworthy young man of the British nation . . . 
fair of form and aspect, kind in conversation and affable to 
all, fair of complexion, with curly yellow hair, eyes somewhat 
blue, full and playful." It also made up for the defeat which 
the men of Gwynedd had sustained earlier in the year at the 
hands of Robert of Mold at Wich. 

Some time before the Welsh had gained further successes 
in the south Cadell ap Gruffydd had reduced the castle of 
Dinweileir, and later in the same year (1146) he and Howel 
ap Owain overcame the castle of Caermarthen and placed 
Maredudd ap Gruffydd in charge of it as defender. He 
appears to have beaten back successfully an attempt at re- 
capture made by the Normans and Flemings under the 
leadership of William fitz Aed and the sons of Gerald the 
Steward. In the year following (1147) we find Cadell and 
Howel again combining. This time the reduction of Castell 
Gwys (Wiston) was their objective. The attack was suc- 
cessful and Howel returned victorious. 

Conflicts between the Welsh 

Cadwalader now appears on the scene again. This time he 
was in conflict with his nephews, Howel and Conan, sons of 
Owain. He seems to have regained some of his lost power in 

265 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Meirionydd and to have built a castle at Cyniael in the southern 
part of the cantref during the years of peace which had elapsed 
since his quarrel with Owain. What the cause of the dispute 
was between himself and his nephews we do not know, but in 
1 147 Howel and Conan advanced into Meirionydd, called out 
the men of the district, and proceeded to attack Cynfael Castle, 
now entrusted by Cadwalader to the charge of Morvan, abbot 
of Whitland (y ty gwyn, which, however. Professor lyloyd has 
suggested should read y tywyn and refers to Towyn) . Howel 
and Conan, finding Morvan impervious to bribes, had to resort 
to force in order to obtain the castle, but at last were successful, 
and we read about this time of Cadwalader being driven out of 
Meirionydd. 

Cadwalader still, however, retained some power. In 1149 
he is found building a castle at I^lanrhystud and portioning 
out part of Ceredigion to his son Cadwgan. The other Welsh 
princes were also busy in that year, consolidating their power 
and building castles in Yale (lal) and at Oswestry. In the 
year following Cadell ap Gruffydd repaired the castle of 
Caermarthen and ravaged Cydweli. The remainder of that 
year was devoted to disputes between the various branches 
of the house of Gwynedd. 

Owain, meanwhile, was strengthening his grasp on the 
district around Mold. While the younger members of his 
family were disputing in the south and west he followed up 
the success gained by the capture of Mold Castle. A castle 
was built in the commote of Yale at Buddugre. Feeling him- 
self secure in the north, he seems to have turned his attention 
to Powys, where Madog ap Maredudd's castle of Oswestry 
had, as we have seen, recently been rebuilt. This prince, 
who had been the principal ruler of Powys since Maredudd's 
death in 1132, did not hesitate to call in the aid of the 
Normans in his dispute with Owain. A battle was fought 
at Consyllt (Coleshill ?), in which the ever-victorious Owain 
was again successful and the auxiliaries and troops of Madog 
were put to flight. This victory greatly strengthened 
Owain's position in Yale and Tegeingl, and his power was 
266 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

still further increased by the death of Earl Ranulf (poisoned 
as some thought, by Peverel of the Peak) in the following year, 
leaving as heir a child of tender years to guide the fortunes of 
Chester through those troublous times. 

Owain's Successes against Stephen 

The years which follow were filled with unimportant 
squabbles between the various Welsh princes. The royal 
house of Deheubarth seems, during the years 1151-1153, to 
have been at feud with the sons of Owain Gwynedd. In 115 1 
they were successful in driving Howel ap Owain out of most of 
Ceredigion, though he still remained lord of a castle at Pen- 
gwern, in lylanfihangel. They also captured the castle of 
I^lanrhystud, which was, however, regained by Howel shortly 
afterward. The sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys then turned their 
attention to Gower, burnt the castle of Aberllychwer, and 
devastated the surrounding lands. 

In 1 153 the men of Deheubarth gained further successes 
against Howel ap Owain. The castle at Penwedig (Castle 
Howel ?) was demolished. Tenby was captured by a night 
attack and delivered over to the charge of the Norman WilUam 
fitz Gerald ; the castle at Ystrad Cyngen was laid waste and 
the castle at Aberafan burnt, its garrison slain, and valuable 
booty seized. An unhappy year ended with the ravaging of 
Cyfeiliog. In 1156 Rhys of Deheubarth pushed on as far as 
Aberdovey, while on the eastern border Madog of Powys 
built the castle of Caereinion. 

We have mentioned these unimportant details in order to 
estimate justly the position of Owain Gwynedd at the close of 
Stephen's reign. In the south he appears to have delegated 
the command to his sons, of whom Howel and Conan seem to 
have been the most energetic. Their arms met with alternate 
successes and reverses, so that at the time we have now reached 
their position was not very different from that which was 
theirs at the commencement of the struggle. In the north 
Owain himself was in command. Here the position was very 
different. With one or two trifling exceptions his progress 

267 



HISTORY OF WALES 

had been uninterrupted, and the exceptions had occurred 
during the time when he was prostrated by the death of his 
son Rhun. Molesdale and the neighbouring districts had been 
brought under his sway ; his possessions had continually 
increased toward the east, so that by now the ancient Roman 
town of Chester was within sight of his outposts. Powys had 
been humbled and Earl Ranulf's power had been reduced. 

The condition of affairs was, indeed, becoming serious from 
the point of view of the English Government. Throughout 
the anarchy of Stephen's reign Wales had been practically 
abandoned by the English king and the marcher lords. These 
latter had been prominent participators in the struggle, and 
had paid but little attention to their home affairs, and it is 
not to be marvelled at that the Welsh princes had taken full 
advantage of the slackening of the grip which had almost 
strangled their national life in the time of Henry I. 

Conflict with Henry II 

No great credit would be due to Owain Gwynedd if the list 
of his achievements had stopped with the death of Stephen. 
We could but have regarded him as an opportunist who had 
taken advantage of the temporary weakness of the English 
monarchy to snatch a temporary gain. It is for his leadership 
and prudence in the struggle with Henry, a man of very 
different mould from Stephen and one of the most powerful 
kings of his day, that we must award to Owain the eminent 
position which is admittedly his in the history of his 
country. 

The death of Stephen in 1154 did not see immediately any 
attempt at the reconquest of Wales. England herself was in 
a state of complete disorder. Henry's title, based as it was 
largely on treaty rights, had to be established fully. His wide 
French possessions required his attention. It was necessary 
for him to bring into subjection many of the unruly barons 
whose adulterine castles and lawless behaviour had rendered 
the lives of the commoners of England well-nigh unbearable 
for years. Two of these barons, the marcher lords Roger Earl 
268 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

of Hereford and Hugh Mortimer of Wigmore, had, in the first 
year of Henry's reign, broken out into rebellion, but seem to 
have recognized that Henry was no Stephen, and early made 
their peace with the king, though Hugh did not surrender 
until the capture of his castle at Bridgnorth. It was not 
until 1 157 that, the preliminary work having been done, 
Henry was free at last to turn his attention to Wales. 

Henry seems to have decided to leave nothing undone 
which would aid him in the complete conquest of the Cymry. 
A special levy was raised, and, arrangements having been 
made whereby a long term of service was assured, a fleet was 
collected in order to enable a joint attack to be launched 
against Wales by land and sea. An alliance was contracted 
with Cadwalader of Gwynedd, who, as we have seen, had been 
constantly at war with his brother Owain, and had been 
driven out of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales in 11 53. 
Cadwalader had other reasons for being partial to the English 
side. He had married into the famous Norman house of Clare, 
and he had been maintained by Henry since his banishment. 
Though from a patriot's point of view his conduct was, and 
always had been, atrocious, it was not simply perverse and 
foolish. Finally Henry strengthened his already considerable 
force with archers from Shropshire, who might be expected to 
understand the mode of fighting which would have to be 
adopted in the mountains and valleys of Wales. 

It seems to us to be evident, from a consideration of the 
campaign which followed, that Owain expected defeat and 
was only too ready to purchase peace with the sacrifices 
demanded of him, sacrifices which, though not great, were, we 
believe, greater than Henry's campaign warranted. 

The English king, though prepared for a lengthy struggle, 
seems to have determined, with the boldness of youth, to 
attempt a coup de main which would bring Owain at once to 
his knees. Sending his main army along the northern coast 
road from Chester and directing the fleet to make for Rhuddlan, 
the king himself plunged into the forest of Cennadlog,^ 

^ Coleshill, according to Giraldus Cambrensis. 

269 



HISTORY OF WALES 

accompanied only by a few lightly armed troops. The plan 
was a bold, even a reckless, one, and was like to have cost the 
king his life. 

Owain, who, following his father's tactics, had collected the 
whole of his available resources and had encamped at Basing- 
werk, fortified his camp with earthworks and prepared for a 
pitched battle. It was against this encampment of Owain's 
that the northern army had been sent, Henry at the same 
time attempting to reach the same place by taking the shorter 
route through the forests. Henry undoubtedly expected that 
this bold move would take Owain completely by surprise. It 
did not. On the other hand, Henry was caught unawares by 
David and Conan, sons of Owain. A furious fight took place 
in the " trackless wood." The Constable of Chester and 
Robert de Courcy were slain. Henry himself would have been 
killed but for the bravery of Roger of Hereford. Panic seized 
the English standard-bearer, Henry of Essex, Constable of 
England, who fled. At last, however, the king gathered his 
scattered forces together and escaped into the open fields 
again. 

It was in connexion with this fight in the wood of Coleshill 
that a pathetic incident occurred of which Giraldus speaks. 
According to the story he relates, it appears that a young 
Welshman was killed " while passing through the king's army," 
A greyhound which accompanied him, seeing its master fall, 
stayed by his side, and did not desert the corpse for eight days, 
though without food. Faithfully it guarded the lifeless body 
from the attacks of dogs, wolves, and birds of prey. When the 
English soldiery came up they found the dog, now almost 
starved to death, still keeping guard. Giraldus adds : "As 
a mark of favour to the dog . . . the English, although bitter 
enemies of the Welsh, ordered the body ... to be deposited 
in the ground with the accustomed offices." 

Owain, meanwhile, uncertain of the success or failure of his 
sons, and fearing to be outflanked, hesitated to accept the 
attacks in front and rear which threatened him. He retreated 
without giving battle. Henry, meanwhile, had rejoined his 
270 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

main army and proceeded to Rhuddlan " in a rage," as the 
Welsh chronicler tells us. 

Henry's reverses were, however, by no means at an end. 
Owain, now encamped in front of I^lwyn Pina (identified by 
Powel with Bryn-y-pin), continually harassed Henry by day 
and night. Owain, meanwhile, had obtained the aid of 
Madog of Powys,^ so that almost the whole of north-eastern 
Wales was encamped around Henry. Meanwhile the sea 
attack had been a failure, for the marines, after some few 
successes against churches in Mon, were forced by the men of 
Anglesey to fight. The battle resulted in complete victory for 
the Welsh, Henry, a son of Henry I by Nest of Pembroke, 
was slain, Robert fitz Stephen was wounded, and many of the 
Norman leaders were killed. 

Henry, hearing of this ill news, seems to have decided to 
abandon the whole campaign. Peace upon terms was offered 
to Owain, and accepted. Henry had gained no single victory 
on land or sea, but Owain was wise enough to see that he was 
no match for the ruler of well-nigh all France and England 
and Scotland if it came to a real struggle for supremacy. He 
therefore agreed to give hostages for good behaviour, to 
relinquish Tegeingl and restore to Cadwalader his former 
possessions. About the same time lorwerth the Red, son of 
Maredudd of Powys, burned the castle of Buddugre, in Yale, 
but recently built, as we have seen, by Owain. 

It was now that Owain showed himself to be something 
more than the brave chieftain of a clan. Realizing that times 
had changed and that open resistance was useless, he aban- 
doned defiance and resisted the temptation to pick quarrels 
with the Norman marchers. 

Position in South Wales 

Meanwhile in the south the sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys, of 
Deheubarth, had been indulging in a perfect orgy of fighting. 
These sons of Rhys were typical Welsh chieftains. Brave, 
daring, filled with a passionate hatred of the Normans, they 

* See as to this p. 273. 

271 



HISTORY OF WALES 

devoted their time to castle-razing. As time passed it became 
with them almost a hobby. The presence of a castle, Norman 
or Welsh, which did not belong to them seems to have filled 
them with a longing to destroy it. Mabudryd, Caermarthen, 
Gwys, Tenby, Aberafan, I^lanrhystud, had been burnt or 
captured. The years had been full of danger, and two of the 
brave three, Cadell and Maredudd, early met with injuries, 
injuries which cost the one his life, the other his valour. 
Maredudd was but twenty-five when he died. He left his 
younger brother, Rhys, sole heir to Deheubarth (Maredudd 
had lost his nerve owing to his wounds and had turned pious). 
Young though Rhys was, he came of a brave race, and was 
destined to live for many years the champion of South 
Wales and its redoubtable protector against the might of 
England. 

While Henry was launching his army against Owain in the 
north Rhys was ravaging the south. The day of reckoning 
had, however, come. Young Rhys, lacking the older Owain's 
wisdom, failed to bow before the storm and prepared to resist. 
We believe that history has few finer examples of reckless 
bravery than this of young Rhys, a mere lad, entrenching 
himself and his clansmen in the forests of South Wales, pre- 
pared to meet alone and without allies the might of Henry, 
king or duke not only of England, but of almost all France 
and Scotland. At last, however, wiser counsels prevailed and 
Rhys made submission. As a result of the terms of peace the 
Clares and the Cliffords came back to South Wales. Karl 
Roger of Hereford, son of Richard fitz Gilbert, crept back to 
Ceredigion to seize under the shadow of the king what for 
twenty-two years he had been unable to take for himself. 
Castles at Ystrad Meurig, Aberdovey, Dineirth, and I^lan- 
rhystud and Castle Humphry reverted to the Normans. 
Cantref Bychan and I^landovery went once more to the 
Cliffords. The Normans had thus won back in South Wales 
almost all that had been gained. The Welsh, however, soon 
renewed the attack. Castle Humphry was again destroyed, 
and a campaign commenced against the new Norman lords 
272 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

and many castles were burnt. Henry, however, again inter- 
posed, Rhys submitted, and peace was made. 

PowYS 

In the meantime Madog of Powys had died in 1160. We 
find this Madog referred to as the ally of England in the recent 
campaign against Owain. The evidence for this is, however, 
doubtful. The Brut y Tywysogion, deaUng with the events of 
1157, tells us that after Henry had reached Rhuddlan and 
Owain had encamped in front of lylwyn Pina, " Madog, son of 
Maredudd, lord of Powys, selected his position for encamping 
between the army of the king and the army of Owain, so as to 
enable him to meet the first attack made by the king." The 
Annates Camhriae is silent on the subject, save that in one 
text we have the words " Henricus . . . ad campestria Cestriae 
duxit . . . adjuvante Madauc . . . et venit ad Dynas Basic." 
We also find that a payment was made by the sheriff of 
Shropshire in that year to "Maddock, £8 ids." The Brut 
Saeson also gives Madog charge of the fleet. Again, Madog's 
brother, lorwerth the Red, did certainly attack Owain's castle 
in Yale. On the other hand, Madog lost Oswestry Castle, 
v^hich he had built, and which was given by Henry to William 
fitz Alan. He gained nothing by the terms of peace, although 
Cadwalader, who, we know, was on Henry's side, was most 
carefully provided for by Henrj'^ when drafting the terms. 
Again, if Madog was a traitor to his country, a person who 
would sell his help for £8 los., how are we to account for the 
entry in the Brut, where we have a glowing account of him, 
his bravery and his beauty ? Further, how can we account 
for the friendship which clearly subsisted between Powys and 
Gwynedd in 1160 if we are to regard Madog as having been 
opposed to Owain in 1157 ? These considerations leave us 
doubtful as to Madog's attitude in 1157. For his sake we 
trust he was found on the side of his countrymen. Welsh 
historians have been less kind to him. He is portrayed as one 
of Henry's allies. Ally or no ally, his death made little differ- 
ence to Owain's policy ; he still pursued his policy of peace. 

s 273 



HISTORY OF WALES 

The death of Madog did, however, have one considerable 
result. Powys was no longer ruled by one man, but was 
split up into a number of small lordships. It was divided 
among Owain Cyfeiliog, lorwerth the Red, Gruffydd, Owain 
Vychan (' the lyittle'), and Owain Brogyntyn. The result, for 
our purpose, was twofold — Powys was weakened and the 
doings of its chieftains became so petty as hardly to deserve 
attention. To show how little love the house of Powys had 
for Henry, despite the imagined alliance of 1157, the year 
1 1 63 saw the destruction of the royal castle of Carreghofa. 

Henry's Third Expedition 

In 1 162 the old-time enmity between Powys and Gwynedd 
was renewed. One of Owain' s castles was seized; but the 
turn soon came. Owain moved an arm}'^ into Arwystli as far 
as lylandinam and inflicted a severe loss on the Powysians. 
Shortly afterward Owain's son, David, made an attack upon 
Tegeingl, which he ravaged and denuded of its population and 
cattle, taking the latter with him into the Vale of Clwyd. This, 
of course, was practically a tearing up of the peace of 1157. 
Henry instantly took steps to punish these troublesome 
princes. Henry had, indeed, good cause to complain. Not 
only in the north had his subjects been harassed. Rhys of 
Deheubarth had been a sore thorn in the side of the marchers 
of South Wales for years, and had constantly required Henry's 
attention. The English king seems, indeed, to have decided 
on a thorough and final conquest. As the Welsh chronicler 
tells us, he " collected a vast army of the choice warriors of 
England, Normandy, Flanders, Anjou, Gascony, and all 
Britain, and came to Oswestry, proposing to transport and 
destroy the whole of the Britons." This, of course, is 
exaggeration. Henry did, however, make considerable pre- 
parations. The sheriffs of lyondon alone paid nearly £170 for 
shields and clothing for the campaign, a very large sum 
for those days. Troops were requisitioned from many of 
Henry's Continental dominions, heavy cavalry was collected, 
large stores and all the armoury of war were assembled and 
274 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

sent down to Shrewsbury. Danish mercenaries from Dublin 
were engaged to harass Gwynedd by sea. All was complete 
and the struggle had commenced by May of 1165. 

1'he Welsh Reply 

Whether or not there were traitors in the struggle of 11 57, 
now all Wales stood together facing the national peril. Owain, 
with his brother Cadwalader, led Gwynedd ; Rhys of Deheu- 
barth led the men of the south. Powys was captained by 
Owain Cyfeiliog, lorwerth the Red, and all the sons of 
Madog. " Together, united and undaunted, they came into 
Kdeyrnion, and encamped at Corwen." 

There is something very fine in all this. One's sympathy 
always goes out to the weaker side, and Wales, small in the 
number of its people, poor in the quality of its soil, had waged 
so plucky, so gallant a fight for so many years against its 
more powerful neighbour. The Saxons had come and had 
been beaten back ; the Normans had come and had been 
resolutely opposed for well-nigh a century. Meanwhile these 
fighting folk found time to slay each other. But now, in a 
time of grave national peril, Wales lost its name and became 
once more Cymru, the land of the Britons. Side by side these 
men who but a few short months ago had been fighting one 
another prepared to meet their common enemy. 

Owain Gwynedd, now the leader of Cymru, kept back his 
main host, and at the same time sent forward a few chosen 
warriors to attack and harass the onward march of the king. 
Henry, meanwhile, from his base at Oswestry, to which town 
he had journeyed from Shrewsbury, struck across the moun- 
tains into the woods of the Vale of Ceiriog. As before, once 
in the forests of Wales, Henry was as one lost. The skir- 
mishers whom Owain had sent out to harass him eagerly 
seized this opportunity to inflict heavy loss at little cost. 
Henry, indeed, found it necessary to have the woods cleared, 
so dangerous were they to his progress. At last, however, he 
emerged from the valley and commenced the passage of the 
Berwyn range. These mountains, as those who have travelled 

275 



HISTORY OF WALES 

in North Wales know, rise quickly from the plains to a con- 
siderable altitude. Their sides, bleak and barren, offer little 
or no cover to an advancing army ; the range is so con- 
tinuous that a general must look in vain for passes through 
which to lead his army in safety. Henry's progress was not 
unopposed, but he succeeded in encamping the advance posts 
of his forces in the mountains of Berwyn. It was while here 
that he was overtaken by storms of rain, which made the 
mountains impassable and prevented supplies of food from 
being brought from his base. 

Henry, realizing that his position was becoming one of 
danger, decided to retreat. We can imagine his ire. Of 
all the kings of England, no one is more noted for his furious 
temper, and we are told that he sometimes raged in anger like 
a maniac. This was one of those occasions. His wrath fell 
directly upon the hostages whom Owain had given after the 
earlier campaign ; these, to the number of twenty-two, he 
blinded. The unhappy men numbered among them many 
of Wales's noblest princes, including two sons of Owain and 
one son of Rhys ap Gruffydd (who must have been but a 
child at the time). 

Henry now abandoned the whole campaign. The Irish 
mercenaries were paid off and the king returned to England. 

Welsh Success in South Wales 

The danger past, the Welsh chieftains parted, each return- 
ing to his own country. Rhys of Deheubarth was the first to 
take advantage of the Berwyn debacle. Cardigan Castle was 
attacked, and, after being betrayed by a Welsh cleric to Rhys, 
was burned and much booty taken. Rhys then seized the 
Carew castle of Cilgerran and imprisoned Robert fitz Stephen. 
He had by now regained almost all that he had lost during 
his earlier struggles with Henry. 

Several attempts were subsequently made by the Normans 
and Flemings to retake Cilgerran, but without success, and 
Rhys remained master of Ceredigion and south-western 
Wales. 
276 



OWAIN GWYNEDD 

Welsh Success in North Wales 

While these successes were being gained in the south Owain 
was not idle in the north, for we find him destroying Basing- 
werk Castle. Meanwhile there was trouble in the house of 
Powys. Owain Cyfeiliog and Owain Vychan drove out 
lorwerth the Red, and in the next year Owain Cyfeiliog was 
himself dispossessed of Caereinion by Owain Gwynedd, 
Cadwalader, and Rhys of Deheubarth. Caereinion was given 
to Owain Vychan, but Owain Cyfeiliog shortly afterward 
attacked it again and destroyed it. 

Owain, Cadwalader, and Rhys now turned their attention 
to Rhuddlan Castle. This stronghold had since Robert of 
Rhuddlan's time been the chief of the outlying posts of the 
Normans in North Wales. The garrison, after resisting for 
three months, during which time no aid arrived from England, 
capitulated, and the castle was burnt. The same fate befell 
Prestatyn, and the Welsh princes, well satisfied with their 
autumn campaign, returned to celebrate Christmas with 
rejoicings. 

Tegeingl was now again joined to Gwynedd, and Owain, by 
a rare mixture of strength, bravery, and caution, had extended 
his dominions from the Dovey to the Dee. 

His end was now approaching. Two years after the capture 
of Rhuddlan, after a time of general peace so rare in Wales, 
Owain Gwenydd, " a man of great celebrity, and of the most 
extraordinary sagacity, nobleness, fortitude, and bravery," 
died. The last year of his life was troubled by a dispute with 
the Church, but he was absolved upon his deathbed. 



277 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE LORD RHYS 

THE death of Owaiti Gwynedd in 1170 opened the way 
for the rise to pre-eminence of his energetic fellow- 
prince, Rhys of Deheubarth, or Rhys ap Gruffydd 
(' the lyord Rhys '—yr Arglwydd Rhys). We have already had 
occasion to mention examples of his bravery and his daring. 
Until now, however, the northern prince had held the central 
position on the stage of Welsh history. It may be that Owain 
was fortunate in having for the seat of his power the more 
rugged north, where, guarded by the mountains of Eryri, he 
could look out with comparative safety on the attempted 
aggressions of the English and upon the abortive punitive 
expeditions of Henry. Rhys, on the other hand, held sway 
in the comparatively flat lands of the south, and so, quite apart 
from questions of military competence, was exposed in greater 
measure than Owain to hostile attacks from England. 

Again, owing to the natural miUtary strength of northern 
Wales, Owain had, so to speak, a handicap in the race for 
chieftaincy, an advantage which he was not slow to take, and 
one which, as we have seen, resulted in his being well-nigh 
supreme among the chieftains of Cymru. 

Rhys, however, even in his earlier years, had not been idle, 
nor had he taken a very secondary share in the movements 
which had almost freed Wales from the dominion of the 
marchers. Born about 1132, as early as 1146, when but a 
boy, he had assisted Cadell, his brother, in the capture of 
castles at Dinweileir, Caermarthen, and lylanstephen. In the 
year following he joined in the attack on Wist on Castle. In 
1150 he was to the forefront in the movement which resulted 
278 



THE LORD RHYS 

in the expulsion of Owain's son, Howel, from South Ceredigion. 
Of the years which followed, which saw the conquest of North 
Ceredigion, the capture of Tenby, and the destruction of the 
castles of Aberaf an and Ystrad Cyngen, we have already spoken. 
The year 1153, when Cadell was absent on a pilgrimage, 
leaving his possessions in the charge of his younger brothers, 
Maredudd and Rhys, marked an advancement in Rhys' 
fortunes. These were still further improved by the untimely 
death of Maredudd in 1155. Rhys was now ruler of Dyfed, 
Ceredigion, and Ystrad Tywi, though, of course, important 
parts of those districts were still held by marcher lords, chief 
of whom may be reckoned the Clares. 

Rhys attacks the Marchers 

The year 1158 saw Rhys' first serious conflict with the 
English king. As we have seen, he submitted on terms, having 
been persuaded by fair promises. These promises, as we know, 
were not kept, and the Cliffords and Clares came back once 
more into power in Ceredigion. The result was a campaign of 
castle-razing undertaken by Rhys against these lords. The 
castle of lylandovery, then in the hands of the Cliffords, was 
captured, and the Clares' castle in Ceredigion was burnt. In 
1159 more castles were destroyed in Dyfed, and siege was laid 
to Caermarthen Castle itself. This siege was, however, un- 
successful. Rhys was compelled by the relieving force under 
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, to abandon all present hope of 
taking this stronghold. 

This force, which was composed of French, Normans, 
Flemings, and English, combined with a Welsh contingent from 
the north in a counter-attack upon Rhys in the latter part of 
the same year, and Rhys was closely beset in his castle of 
Dinweileir. He was, however, strong enough to keep the 
castle, despite the fact that his enemies numbered among 
themselves, besides the Earl of Cornwall, the Earl of Bristol, 
and the Clares, the Welsh leaders Cadwalader and Howel and 
Conan of Gwynedd, who doubtless were seeking to revenge 
themselves for previous defeats. A truce was patched up, 

279 



HISTORY OF WALES 

and, in the words of the chronicler, the enemies of Rhys 
"returned home with unemployed hands." 

Rhys submits to Henry 

Rhys next comes into prominence in 1 163, when Henry II 
led an army into South Wales to reduce him to obedience. 
The Welsh, conquered by superstition, offered no resistance to 
Henry's advance. A prophecy attributed to Merlin, to the 
effect that a freckled man who crossed the Ford of Pencarn 
would bring disaster to their land, had long been known to the 
men of Deheubarth. This ford at the time of Henry's coming 
had long been disused, but the king's horse, frightened by 
the blast of a trumpet, shied, refused the usual crossing, 
cantered along the bank of the stream, and plunged into the 
water at the ancient ford. With this dark omen before him, 
and doubtless also persuaded by his isolated position and 
Henry's might, Rhys submitted, and returned with the king 
to England, where, later in the year, he did homage to his 
overlord at the Council of Woodstock. 

The next year was to show, however, that his homage was 
but a form, his fealty mere lip-service. Hardly was he back 
in Wales when he commenced to burn and destroy more castles 
in Dyfed. In the year following, as we have seen, he was one 
of the band of patriots who gathered at Corwen among the 
mountains of the north to resist the attempted subjugation of 
their land by Henry. How that expedition failed, beaten by 
Wales's impregnable mountains and the fury of the elements, 
together with the bravery of Owain's advance posts, we have 
already stated. The Welsh princes were not slow to mark 
the weakness of the king ; all made renewed efforts to cast 
off the yoke which was threatening to bear them down, and 
in this movement Rhys was by no means the least energetic 
or the least successful. 

Cardigan Castle and Cilgerran were laid siege to and taken, 
as we have seen. Rhys was again master of Ceredigion. In 
1 167 he was again in league with Owain, this time first against 
Powys, and later in the successful attack upon Rhuddlan 
280 



THE LORD RHYS 

Castle. In 1168 he was busy building a castle at Aber Einion 
and invading Brecknock. 

Thus we see that in the years when Owain was the admitted 
leader of the Welsh Rhys in the south was doing many 
redoubtable things, and, when joint action was necessary, was 
to be found a trusty lieutenant in support of Owain. With 
the death of Owain in 1170 the lieutenant became the general. 
In the years which follow the Lord Rhys is the most powerful 
figure in Wales. There was another and more important 
event which happened in that year which greatly strengthened 
the hands of all Henry's enemies. The murder of Becket, 
resulting as it did in the virtual banishment of the king from 
the hearts and love of all good men, made England's ruler for 
years impotent to aid or harm. England's weakness was 
always, in those days, Wales's strength, and Rhys was ever 
ready to take advantage of the dipping of the balance. 

There was yet another cause which advanced the power of 
the Welsh, particularly the Welsh of the south. The years 
1166-70 had seen the departure of several important marcher 
lords from South Wales to Ireland, where they had espoused 
the cause of Dermot, king of Leinster. One of these, Richard 
of Clare, had prospered so well that on the death of Dermot in 
1 17 1 Richard was nominated his successor. Henry II now 
determined to take a hand in the struggle. With the memories 
of Stephen's reign ever present, it is little wonder that he 
looked with no great favour on this quick advancement to 
kingly power of one of his barons. 

The king, having collected a large force with which to bring 
Richard to submission, prepared to cross over to Ireland from 
Milford Haven. Richard, however, made peace, and the 
movement is only of importance to us since it resulted in a 
compact being made between Henry and Rhys. The Welsh 
prince, though having to give hostages and pay a fine, was 
taken back into full favour. The possessions which Rhys had 
won were formally recognized as his, and he was soon after- 
ward made a justice of Deheubarth. His son Howel, who 
had been a hostage for many years, was also released. 

281 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Henry's Pilgrimage to St. David's 

It was after Henry's return from Ireland that the king made 
his famous pilgrimage to the shrine of St, David. According 
to Giraldus, he proceeded to the holy place in the guise of a 
pilgrim, on foot, and staff in hand. While the solemn pro- 
cession which had been formed was proceeding on its way we 
are told that a woman whose petition to the king had been 
ignored, in the passionate manner peculiar to the Celts of all 
times, shouted out, with a loud voice, the imprecation : 
" Avenge us this day, I^echlawar ! Avenge our race and nation 
on this man ! " The reference was to a prophecy of Merlin's 
(according to vulgar belief) to the effect that a king of 
England returning through Menevia after the conquest of 
Ireland should die on Lechlawar ('the Speaking-stone'), a 
block of marble forming a bridge over a stream on the way 
to St. David's. The king, having arrived at ' the Speaking- 
stone,' after a momentary hesitation boldly crossed over. 
Finding, doubtless to his intense relief — for he had his share 
of superstitious belief — that he was still alive, he said with 
some indignation : " Who now will have any faith in that liar 
Merlin ? " So saying, he entered the church, paid his devo- 
tions, and heard Mass solemnly celebrated. 

The Power of Rhys Established 

After the departure of Henry, Rhys, now his overlord's 
friend, was in a position of great strength in the south. This 
friendship was advanced shortly afterward by the aid which 
the lord of Deheubarth gave to Henry during the revolt 
against the king which took place in 1173. His son Howel 
Sais (' the Englishman ' — in reference to his long sojourn in 
England as a hostage) was sent to aid the king in France, and 
later Rhys sent troops to support the king's cause both in 
England and on the Continent. Rhys' position is perhaps 
best shown by the events of 1175. Henry had now returned 
from France, the revolt headed by his sons had been subdued, 
Becket's death was beginning to fade, in some slight degree, 
282 



THE LORD RHYS 

from men's minds. The time had come to settle the affairs of 
the kingdom. At the council held at Gloucester, among other 
important matters the condition of Wales was fully considered. 
Rhys was summoned, and by the advice of the king (according 
to the Brut) he took with him all the princes of the south. 
The meeting seems to have been mutually satisfactory. The 
princes returned peaceably to their country. One of them, 
lorwerth ap Owain, who had been deprived of Caerleon by 
Henry some years before, had it returned to him, and Rhys 
was advanced yet farther into King Henry's favour. The 
chronicler, indeed, tells us that he was " the most beloved 
friend of the king at that time," His friendship was of value 
to his own country while still being of assistance to England. 

South Wales was, indeed, settling down into a state of 
amity with England. Under Rhys' guidance it prospered for 
many years. The feuds of the past could not, however, be 
forgotten in a moment. This very year which saw the peaceful 
return of the chieftains from Gloucester witnessed in Wales 
an act of unusual barbarity. In the early part of the year 
Henry, a brother of Earl Roger of Hereford who had succeeded 
to the lordships of Brecknock and Upper Gwent, was slain by 
Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, one of the princes in Rhys' train, and one 
who had married into Rhys' family, his wife Gwladus being 
that prince's sister. On Seisyll's return from Gloucester, 
Henry's nephew, William of Breose, now lord of Abergavenny, 
avenged his uncle's death by murdering Seisyll and his son 
Gruff ydd, whom he had lured to his castle to hear a royal 
ordinance read. Not content with this act of treachery, 
William sent men to the court of Seisyll, where they seized 
Gwladus and her young child, Cadwalader, a seven-year-old 
boy, whom they slew in his mother's arms. We are not 
surprised to find our chronicler writing that as a result of this 
double act of infamy " none of the Welsh dared trust to the 
French." 

Meanwhile during this tragic year some terrible deeds had 
been committed around Caerleon. The times are too refined 
to permit us to relate the mutilations practised by Howel of 

283 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Caerleon on his uncle Owain Pencarwn. About the same 
time Gwynedd was also witnessing a bitter struggle between 
contending factions of the same house. Owain's sons were 
effecting what Rhys' sons were also destined to accomplish — 
the break-up of the ordered state which the wisdom of their 
father had brought about. At the moment David ap Owain 
had succeeded in fettering his brother Rhodri to some dungeon 
wall. Rhodri soon escaped, however, and the end of the year 
saw David expelled from Mon and Gwynedd and driven over 
the river Conway. 

Rhys a Patron of the Arts 

lycaving these petty doings of little tyrants, we must return 
to the lyord Rhys. I^ike Gruffydd ap Cynan, now that he had 
reached a position of power he is found turning from the rude 
severities of war to the more gentle arts of peace. Like the 
great leader of Gwynedd, he seems to have been a patron of 
bardism and music. In 1176, after the return from Gloucester, 
he held a grand festival at his castle of Aberteifi, at which he 
appointed two competitions, one between bards and poets, 
and the other between the harpers, fiddlers (chrythoryon) , 
pipers, and various other performers of instrumental music. 
We are also told that he assigned two chairs for the victors 
in the contests, which he enriched " with vast gifts." It is 
interesting to note that the men of the south won the chair 
for music, the men of the north that for poetry — a division of 
talent which not improbably lives on to-day. 

Death of Henry II 

The next few years were quite uneventful in the south, 
though disputes in the north and in Powys were still raging. 
We gather that Rhys was continuing to consolidate his power, 
and in 1177 we hear of his erecting a castle at Rhaiadr Gwy. 
In ii87his son Maelgwn appears to have carried out a small 
raid which resulted in the ravaging and burning of Tenby. 
This seems to have been directed against the Flemings, and 
evidently caused great delight to the compiler of the Brut, 
284 



THE LORD RHYS 

who refers to Maelgwn in most glowing terms, calling him 
" the shield and strength of all the south," and likening him 
to a lion.^ It is probable that the son was bidding to outshine 
the father. However that may be, in 1189 we find Rhys 
imprisoning Maelgwn, now referred to as " the light, and 
beauty, and courtesy, and shield, and strength, and liberty of 
all the south and the terror of the Saxons, the best knight, 
second to Gwalchmai." 

It was in this year (1189) that Henry of England died. The 
date was an important one for Wales, since it commenced a 
period of weak government for England. Richard the Cru- 
sader, fired by the preaching of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, 
was away. Never at home in England, he was an example of 
a brave and chivalrous man who came near to being one of 
our worst kings. Followed by the anarchy of John and the 
minority of Henry III, Richard's accession commenced an 
era when Wales ceased to bow before the strength of the 
English king. For many decades, indeed, Wales was virtually 
independent. These years we must now hastily consider. 

In the very year in which Henry died we find the I^ord 
Rhys taking possession of the castles of St. Clear, Aber Corran, 
and lylanstephen. He also about this time ravaged Penfro 
Rhos and Gower, and three years later the castle of lylann- 
hadein fell into his hands. To recount all the minor happen- 
ings of this time would be tedious, but it is desirable to point 
out the general trend of events, so that the era of the lylywelyns 
may be understood. 

Position of Wales after the Death of Henry 

At or about this time the three main divisions of Wales were 
controlled by the lyord Rhys, who governed Deheubarth, 
Gwenwynwyn of Powys, and I^lywelyn ap lorwerth of Gwynedd. 
Of these Rhys was undoubtedly the predominant personality 
at the time of Henry's death. He was, however, growing old. 
He was not less than fifty-seven years of age — and men grew 
old quickly in those troublous times. There were signs, 

1 There is every reason to believe that Maelgwn was worthy of this eulogy. 

285 



HISTORY OF WALES 

indeed, that the once strong hand was losing its firmness. His 
sons had for years been causing their father and their country 
much trouble and some loss. As we have seen, in 1189 
Maelgwn had to be imprisoned. In 1193 we find Maelgwn 
(who had escaped from prison in 1192), together with his 
brother Howel Sais, demolishing the castle of I^lannhadein, 
which their father had taken the year before. It began 
to appear as though Rhys' power in the south was 
breaking up. A feud was already beginning among his 
sons.^ 

It was not, however, until 1194 that the sons began to get 
the upper hand. In that year Rhys was imprisoned by 
them in Nevern Castle. In the intervening years, it is true, 
he had won some more victories against his foreign enemies, 
and in 11 89, when he journeyed to Oxford to pay homage to 
Richard I, he retained sufiicient of his old courage and spirit 
to return to his country furious with rage and without having 
acknowledged his overlord, because Richard had failed to 
make a special journey to Oxford to meet him. 

The imprisonment of 1194 seems to have destroyed his 
prestige for the moment. Though liberated by his son Howel 
Sais, he found himself in the year following the object of a 
plot to depose him in favour of his sons Maredudd and Rhys. 
This he suppressed by the imprisonment of the pretenders, 
and in 11 96 embarked once more on a short but victorious 
campaign of destruction. Caermarthen was destroyed, Colwyn 
Castle captured and burnt ; Radnor town was ravaged and 
destroyed by fire ; Roger Mortimer was defeated in a pitched 
battle ; and Pain's Castle, in Elfael, was taken. This was the 
last outburst of a brave and fiery spirit who for more than 
half a century had led the men of the south against the 
enemies of his country. He died in 1197, while still under 
sentence of excommunication for insults inflicted by his sons 
upon Peter de I^eia — an ill end for the bountiful benefactor 

^ The Brut y Tywysogion under (corrected) date 1193 states that toward 
the end of that year a certain Anarawd ap Rhys seized Madog and Howel. 
his brothers, and bUnded them. This is quite a different family from that 
of the I^ord Rhys. 

286 




Pirate XLI. The Gateway, Strata Fi^orida Abbey 286 

PJioto Culliford, Aberystwyth 



THE LORD RHYS 

of Strata Florida, for the liberal donor of gifts to Whitland and 
Talley Abbeys. At length, however, the last sacred words 
were said over his body, over that unheeding corpse which 
had been scourged to purge the soul of the offences of others. 

GWENWYNWYN AND lyLYWELYN 

We must now turn once more to a consideration of affairs 
in the north and east. In the north lylywelyn ap lorwerth, 
called in later time I^lywelyn the Great, was a very young 
man slowly rising to power, laboriously engaged in uniting his 
disrupted country and in resisting the encroachments of the 
equally ambitious, but less able, Gwenwynwyn of Powys. 

This Gwenwynwyn, though destined never to attain real 
greatness, had in him many of the qualities which had dis- 
tinguished Rhys in his earlier years. Brave and passionate, 
he was an admirable leader of revolt, and on the death of 
Rhys the leadership of the Welsh seems to have passed to 
this chieftain of South Powys rather than to Llywelyn. 

In 1 195 Owain Cyfeiliog, of whom we have already spoken, 
weary of the burdens of government, had entered a monas- 
tery, as so many nobles did in those days. His retirement 
opened the way for his successor, Gwenwynwyn. Almost at 
once Owain' s pacific policy was abandoned. Attacks were 
made on the border counties. So serious was the position 
that Hubert Walter, now Justiciar, thought it necessary to 
lead an army in person against the men of Powys. Gwen- 
wynwyn' s castle of Trallwng, or Pool, was attacked and 
undermined. The priestly soldier was, however, chivalrous 
He allowed the garrison to go freely, a clemency which was 
repaid in the following year, when Gwenwynwyn recovered 
possession of his own and was equally magnanimous to his 
foe. 

The Prince of South Powys now turned his attention to his 
own Welsh neighbours. At first Arwystli was the object of 
attack. This cantref, after an unimportant campaign, fell 
into his hands about 1197. Next Deheubarth claimed his 
attention. The I^ord Rhys was now dead, and his sons 

287 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Gruffydd and Maelgwn (now an exile) were disputing as to 
the right of succession. Gwenwynwyn took the side of the 
exiled claimant. Aberystwyth town and castle were attacked 
and seized. Ceredigion was taken, with all its castles, and 
Gruffydd himself was captured and flung into Corfe Castle. In 
the year following the tables were turned. After some pre- 
liminary reverses, in which Maelgwn captured the castles of 
Aberteifi and Ystrad Meurig, Gruffydd succeeded in completely 
shattering, for the time being, his brother's hopes of leadership. 
We have seen that Gruffydd had been imprisoned. The change 
of fortune came about as follows. After the debacle of 1197 
Gwenwynwyn had apparently banished Gruffydd to England 
or imprisoned him in England. In the following year 
Gwenwynwyn, " endeavouring the restoration of their ancient 
rights to the Welsh, their original property and their boun- 
daries," collected a considerable force and attenjpted the 
reduction of Pain's Castle. Unequipped as he was with the 
necessary engines of war, he made little headway. This lack 
of success coming to the ears of Gruffydd prompted him to 
offer to lead his English gaolers to the relief of their fellow- 
countrymen. The offer was accepted. Gruffydd at the head 
of a considerable force of English soldiers attacked the besieg- 
ing army and defeated it with considerable loss. Having 
regained his liberty, and elated by this first success, Gruffydd 
lost little time in wresting from Maelgwn all the gains of the 
previous campaigns, except the castles of Aberteifi and Ystrad 
Meurig. As to the former important castle, the Brut tells 
us that " Maelgwn swore upon several relics, in the presence 
of monks, after taking hostages for peace from Gruffydd, that 
he would deliver up the castle and hostages together to 
Gruffydd on a fixed day. And that oath he disregarded, 
giving up neither the castle nor the hostages ; divine power, 
nevertheless, set the hostages free from the prison of Gwen- 
wynwyn." The climax came in 1200, two years afterward, 
when, as the chronicler tells us, " Maelgwn, son of Rhys, sold 
Aberteifi, the key of' all Wales, for a trifling value, to the 
English, for fear of and out of hatred of his brother Gruffydd." 
288 



THE LORD RHYS 

In the next year death removed Gruffydd from the scene, 
On his death in 1201 his title to leadership passed to his sons 
(Rhys and Owain), who, in consequence, are found in opposition 
' to Maelgwn for many years. 

We must now leave this unhappy house of Deheubarth still 
embroiled in the squabble for power. Gwenwynwyn, too, is 
no longer a force worthy of detailed consideration. It is not 
until we come to speak of lylywelyn the Great that we 
can treat of a man and a movement that once again welded 
Wales into a nation and gave to its people once more their 
beloved liberty. 



289 



CHAPTER XVII 

GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

IN this chapter we shall consider three men eminent in 
the realms of literature who, while being purely or 
partly of Welsh birth, made their influence felt through- 
out Europe, and who, brought up as they were in Wales, have 
left us a fairly complete picture of that country in the twelfth 
century. We shall thus not merely have to consider the men, but 
also the matter of which they wrote, and in so considering shall 
have something to say of the life and manners of mediaeval Wales. 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Walter Map, and Giraldus Cam- 
brensis were all very remarkable men. Extremely learned for 
their age, they add a sprightliness and, especially in the case 
of the last two, a wit and wide knowledge of men which have 
made their writings live on right to the present day. The 
busy man to-day can pick up his Giraldus and laugh with him 
over the curious events recorded in the Itinerary, he can follow 
Geoffrey with pleasure through his pseudo-history of the 
Britons, he can enjoy Map, whether he be telling us of legends 
connected with the name of Arthur or of the prophecies of 
Merlin or his GoHardic stories or his opinions of the Cistercians. 
They were, indeed, singularly similar types. Though clerics 
and learned men, they never permitted their learning to make 
them dull. They had a ready ear for a story or a legend, and 
a quick wit. They were voluminous writers, and there is 
hardly a line they wrote that is not well worth reading. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth 

This son of Arthur, private priest to WilUam, Earl of 
Gloucester, was the earliest of the triumvirate. Born about 
290 



GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

iioo, he was brouglit up in the Welsh manner as the foster-son 
of Uchtryd, his paternal uncle, then Archdeacon, and afterward 
Bishop, of lylandaff. Educated at Oxford, he early became a 
friend of Walter of Wallingford, Archdeacon of Oxford, who 
suggested to him the compilation of a history of the Britons. 
According to Geoffrey, this Walter had already become 
possessed of a " very ancient British book," ^ which he had 
brought over from Brittany, and it was this book which 
Geoffrey drew upon for material for his Historia Regum 
Britanniae. While yet engaged in the production of his 
history he found time to make a I^atin translation of the 
prophecies of Merlin from the Welsh — a work which was after- 
ward incorporated into his history. The great work was 
eventually completed not later than 1139, for in that year it 
was read by Henry of Huntingdon in the Abbey of Bee in 
Normandy, and it has been stated by a competent authority 
that it was finished by 1135. The Historia is an account of 
the British nation from the fall of Troy onward. Geoffrey 
seems never to have permitted his imagination to receive 
the slightest check, and from beginning to end, as a history, 
it is completely untrustworthy. Even in his own century it 
was perceived by the discerning that it was far from being a 
truthful story. William of Newbury was particularly scathing, 
for among other rude things we find him saying : "In that 
book of his which he calls his British History how childishly 
and impudently he lies throughout no one, unless ignorant 
of the ancient histories, is left in any doubt." Giraldus 
summed up its value in his own manner by a story concerned 
with evil spirits. It appears that, according to him, a certain 
man had the power of seeing evil spirits. These spirits loved 
lies and hated truth ; consequently, by observing from what 
books they fled he was able to judge the truth of the written 
word. " Once," we are told, " when he was much tormented 
by the evil spirits, he placed the Gospel of St. John in his 
bosom, when they immediately vanished from his sight hke 

1 Thomas Wright suggested that it could not have been more than two 
hundred years old at the time, 

291 



HISTORY OF WALES 

birds ; afterward he laid the Gospel aside, and for the sake of 
experiment took the History of the Britons, by Gahridus 
Arthurus, in its place, when they returned and covered not 
only his body, but the book in his bosom, far more quickly 
and more troublesome than usual." Giraldus' judgment was 
right, even as his mode of expressing it was witty. 

But notwithstanding its complete untrustworthiness, Geof- 
frey's work instantly gained a wide popularity. The writer 
had succeeded in casting a glamour of romance over the 
early history of his country, and out of the storehouse of his 
imagination had created kings and courts, heroes and victories. 
It rapidly spread to the Continent. Copy after copy was 
made,i and in time its contents were accepted as true by 
historians of repute. Geoffrey's statements are followed by 
Holinshed, and through him by Shakespeare, who got his 
account of King lycar from this authority. ^ 

In England many translations, adaptations, and modifica- 
tions of the historio-romance early appeared, those known 
as the Brut Tysilio, the Brut y Brenhinoedd, and the Brut 
Gruffydd ah Arthur being the most famous. Of its effect on 
mediaeval romantic literature through its creation, or at least 
development, of the character of Arthur we have already 
spoken in a previous chapter. It is perhaps because of the 
eager seizure upon his materials by the poets and troubadours 
that Geoffrey gained his place as the leader in a wonderful 
literary movement, but the work itself, had it not been 
called a history, would have ranked high as a product of 
the imagination. 

Apart from his writings, Geoffrey cut a respectable but not 
an imposing figure upon the stage of history. He was deemed 
learned by his contemporaries, and with the aid of his uncle 
was successful in obtaining preferment. According to H. R. 
Tedder, he was consecrated Bishop of St. Asaph in 1152, and 

1 An interesting copy dedicated to King Stephen instead of to Robert, 
Earl of Gloucester, appeared in the catalogue of Berne Library, Switzerland, 
in 1770. For an account of this see Archcsological Journal, vol. xv, p. 299. 

2 His work was largely used by other Elizabethan dramatists. Such plays 
as The True Trojans, by Fisher, and The Mayor of Quinborough, by Middleton, 
are mainly based on Geoffrey's History. 

292 




PivATE XLII. Geoffrey's Window, Monmouth 
Photo Frith 



292 



GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

this statement is generally accepted, though Robert WilUams 
had previously pointed out that the Geoffrey thus appointed 
was another Geoffrey or Godfrey ap Arthur, who was made 
Abbot of Abingdon in 1165, which office he held in commendam 
with his bishopric until July 11, 1175, whereas ' Golfrai ab 
Arthur,' the real Geoffrey of Monmouth, died in 1152.^ It is 
admitted on all sides that Geoffrey died in 1154 or 1155, after he 
had been elected Bishop of I^landaff, but before he had entered 
upon his office. The Brut tells us that he died at Mass. 

Walter Map 

The second of the three worthies was born about 1140. He 
describes himself in De Nugis as a " marcher of Wales," and 
refers to the Welsh as fellow-countrymen. His name is also 
Celtic in form. It is probable, however, that he was not of 
pure Welsh blood, and many of his references to Wales are so 
aloof that it would appear that a foreign training and long 
residence in England and in France had made him look upon 
the Welsh as strangers. He was probably born in Hereford- 
shire, though a claim has been put forward by Dr. Henry 
Owen on behalf of Pembrokeshire. 2 His parents appear to 
have been persons of position, high in favour with Henry II. 
After the young Map had received an excellent education in 
Paris he returned to England in 1162, and became attached 
to the king's court, holding a position as clerk of the king's 
household. 

He seems early to have been regarded as a man of wit and 
discretion, and was sent on several diplomatic missions, later 
(c. 1 173) being made a justice itinerant. Even at this time he 
was a bitter opponent of the Cistercians, and when he took 
the oath to administer justice to all men he was careful 
expressly to except Jews and Cistercian monks ! ^ I^ater in 
life he obtained considerable ecclesiastical preferment, holding 
the offices of Vicar of Westbury, Precentor of I/incohi, and 

1 This should be 1 1 55. The Brw^ gives the date as 1 154, and is a year behind. 

2 Gloucestershire has also been mentioned as his native county. 

3 This is related by Giraldus, who never tested a story very carefully 
with the touchstone of truth. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Canon of St. Paul's (1176). In 1197 he was made ArcMeacon 
of Oxford, and in 1199 and 1203 was an unsuccessful candidate 
for the sees of Hereford and St. David's respectively. He 
died some time before 1210. 

Throughout his life he seems to have taken an interest in 
Welsh folk-lore and in the manners and customs of the Welsh 
people. He it is who, in conjunction with Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth, was responsible in no small degree for the development 
of the Arthurian legend. Indeed, according to Professor 
Saintsbury, Map is responsible even to a greater degree than 
Chretien de Troyes for the perfecting of the Arthur stories. 
In his De Nugis he devotes much space to an account of Welsh 
characteristics. In his Second Distinction he impresses upon 
the reader the generosity and hospitality of these people, 
illustrating his statement by a story of a Welshman who 
killed his wife because she had driven a stranger from the 
shelter of their house into a blinding snowstorm by suggesting 
that his presence was unwanted. He, like Giraldus, speaks 
of the ' perfidy ' of the Welsh and of their readiness to break 
the most solemn oath. He, like Giraldus, treats of this 
people as a hardy and passionate race, trained up from 
childhood for war and ever ready to repay an insult with an 
arrow. The following story which he tells in De Nugis 
expresses neatly his view of the Welsh temperament. Map 
had already stated that the Welsh were " prodigal of life, 
covetous of Hberty, careless of peace, warhke and cunning in 
arms, quick to revenge, very generous of everything, each 
most sparing of food for himself but bountiful of meat to 
another, so that each one's food is anybody's." He con- 
tinues : "To show how full of rash and fatuous fury are the 
fits of the Welsh, a youth of a town called Hay went out to 
cross the river Coye : he was carrying a bow with two arrows, 
and happening to meet two of his enemies he took to flight. 
As he fled one of them followed so close that he seemed like 
to catch him. But the youth shot him with one of his arrows 
in the middle of his breast. The stricken man said to his 
comrade : * Follow him, for I am dying, and bring me back my 
294 



GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

life from him.' The other then pursued the youth toward 
the next town as far as he could, and then returned to his 
comrade. But as he made his way back, he in his turn was 
followed at a distance by the youth, who wanted to know the 
end of his fellow. The youth then saw that when the man 
who was unhurt came to his wounded comrade, lying in a 
thicket, the latter asked him whether he had brought him 
back his life from the youth. When he replied that he had 
not, ' Come here,' said the wounded man, ' to take from me a 
kiss for my wife and children, for I am on the point of death.' 
While the unwounded man was in the act of kissing his sick 
comrade, the latter, as he lay beneath him, stabbed him to 
the heart with a knife, saying, ' Lose thy life, thou who through 
thy cowardice hast failed to bring back mine ! ' But the man 
who was on top cut him, in the same way, with a knife to the 
heart, saying, ' No boast shalt thou make of my death, and 
my only misfortune is that the wounds thou hast given me 
compel me to die before I have passed on such kisses to thy 
wife and children ! ' " 

Map's precise place in literary history is a somewhat difficult 
one to fix. Besides his De Nugis he is, of course, famous for 
his work on the Arthurian legend. He is also accredited with 
a large share of what is known as the Goliardic literature. It 
is scarcely believable, however, that the man who could even 
be tentatively accredited with The Quest of Lancelot should 
have penned the doubtful ditties common to the Goliards. 

According to Thomas Wright, " The Goliardi, in the original 
sense of the word, appear to have been in the clerical order 
somewhat the same class as the jongleurs and minstrels among 
the laity, riotous and unthrifty scholars who attended on the 
tables of the richer ecclesiastics, and gained their living and 
clothing by practising the profession of buffoons and jesters." 
The term is a comparatively ancient one, and was certainly 
current as early as 923. The nature of their lays may be 
judged from Chaucer's lines : 



He was a jangler, and a goliardeis. 

And that was most of sinne and harlotries. 



29s 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Map certainly obtained the reputation in the latter Middle 
Ages of being the author of Golias and other Goliardic verses, 
e.g. the well-known students' song which commences : 

Meum est propositum in taberna moHA 

Some have even given him the credit of being a Rabelais who 
attacked the monks under cover of a licentious pen. With 
the reputation of a Goliard came that of being a bibulous 
cleric, or, as Thomas Wright elegantly phrases it, "a jovial 
toper." 2 According to his friend Giraldus, Map was a friend 
of Henry II, because the king admired him for his learning 
and courtliness ; he was an acknowledged wit, a litterateur, 
and his taste in letters was excellent. As to the authorship 
of Golias, that work was undoubtedly produced in Map's life- 
time ; but though it was well known to Giraldus — who tells 
us that he was much shocked at its levity and licentiousness — 
he evidently had no notion that Map was the author, and it is 
highly probable that many of these rhymes are the produc- 
tions of other pens, though it is also probable that Map was 
responsible for such verses as The Cambriae Epitome, which 
was a precis in rhyme of Giraldus' work. 

Giraldus Cambrensis ^ 

Giraldus de Barri, called by his enemies Sylvester, or ' the 
Savage,' came of a right noble race. His father, William de 
Barri, was a prominent Norman noble in favour with the 
English court. His mother, Angharad, was a daughter of 
that Nest, wife to Gerald of Windsor, who, as we have seen, 
was abducted by Owain, and whose beauty and amours earned 
for her the title of ' the Helen of Wales.' 

Born about 1147 ^"t Manorbier, he was the eye-witness of 
many a sudden raid and fierce attack by the Welsh on the 
Normans and Flemings. As a boy he was much like other 

^ " I desire to expire in a tavern drinking." 

2 Wright repudiates the suggestion that Map was bibulous. 

3 We have made much use in what follows of Dr. Henry Owen's excellent 
biography Gerald the Welshman ; also the Introduction to Giraldus' works 
in the Rolls Series. 

296 



GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

boys, and preferred to practise archery rather than learn 
Latin. He seems, however, early to have shown considerable 
capacity and desire for learning, and we have preserved to us 
a number of I^atin poems composed by him while yet a youth 
which, though not marvellous, are, on the other hand, by no 
means contemptible. Much of the polish which he later 
exhibited in his writings was doubtless due to his studies at 
Paris, where, according to his own statement, he was always 
pointed to as the really model scholar. 

It was in 1172 that he returned from Paris to England, and 
immediately began to occupy a respectable position in the 
affairs of the Church. His uncle was Bishop of St. David's, 
and with his aid the brilHant young scholar soon obtained 
preferment. He successively held the livings of lylanwnda, 
Tenby, and Angle in Pembrokeshire, and Chesterton in Oxford- 
shire. He was also made Prebendary of Hereford and Canon 
of St. David's. 

In 1 175 he became Archdeacon of Brecknock, in place of 
Archdeacon Jordan, who had married a wife and, in his old 
age, refused to repudiate her. As Dr. Owen puts it, " He 
kept his wife, but he lost his archdeaconry." 

Gerald was, indeed, at this time a stern reformer. Having 
cleansed Jordan's stables, he turned his attention to tithes. 
His energy brought him into contact with William Karquit, 
a Fleming, and sheriff of Pembrokeshire. Karquit, despising 
the young cleric, insulted Gerald by seizing eight yoke of oxen 
from Pembroke Priory. Gerald replied with bell, book, and 
candle. In Brewer's descriptive words, " The doleful clanging 
of bells announced to all the surrounding country that WilUam 
Karquit, High Sheriff of Pembroke, was deleted from the 
muster-roll of the saints. Henceforth, whatever he might be 
in the transitory honours of the world, he was but a dead dog 
in the estimation of the faithful." Karquit submitted. 

Gerald's next fight of importance was over the new church 
of St. Michael at Kerry. This church was claimed both by 
St. Asaph and St. David's, and while the Bishop of St. Asaph 
was engaged in consecrating it Gerald's party arrived, with 

297 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the irrepressible one at their head, intent on claiming it for 
St. David's. History has few more amusing pictures than the 
scene which followed. After a furious dispute Gerald brought 
out the bell, book, and candle, excommunicated the bishop, 
drove off the St. Asaph party by such a hideous clanging of 
bells that the sensitive Welsh ears could not tolerate it, and 
finally, deeming honour satisfied, sent his very good friend the 
bishop some " very excellent drink." The bishop was received 
back into the fold. 

It was in the next year (1176) that the first step in Gerald's 
famous fight for St. David's was taken. Henry doubtless 
admired Gerald, but he also desired to have some control of 
the affairs of South Wales. The lyord Rhys was, as we have 
seen, already well-nigh independent of the king, and was the 
admitted head of the civil life of the south. Had such an 
independent spirit as Gerald been placed at the head of 
the ecclesiastical life of South Wales, English influence 
would have been eliminated. Consequently, when Gerald 
was chosen in that year Bishop of St. David's Henry 
avoided the election and commanded that Peter de I^eia be 
chosen instead. It was as the king wished, and Gerald retired 
for the next four years to Paris, where he studied theology 
and Canon law. 

On his return he was at once employed by Henry upon 
administrative work in Wales, with such successful results that 
he was rewarded by being made chaplain to the king in 1184. 
In the year following he accompanied Prince John to Ireland, 
where he acquired his material for the Topography and Conquest 
of Ireland. Shortly after his return he accompanied his old 
friend Archbishop Baldwin on the tour through Wales, mainly 
undertaken for the purpose of raising recruits for the Crusades. 
Gerald seems to have met with much success in his efforts to 
get men to be marked with the cross. As he, in his usual 
complacent manner, informs us, after Archbishop Baldwin 
had completely failed to move his audience he, Gerald, quickly 
moved them to tears, and it was only because he did not 
speak in Welsh that there were any men left unmarked with 
298 






M ^in 





GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

the sign of the crusader. One great result of tliis tour was 
his Itinerary and his Description of Wales. 

On the death of Henry, Gerald remained in high favour 
with both Richard and John. He declined the bishoprics of 
Bangor and I^landaff, choosing to wait until St. David's was 
once more free for his acceptance. In 1194, tiring, apparently, 
of the ordinary delights and duties of the court, he retired to 
I^incoln to study, and joined the theological school of William 
de Monte. 

It was in 1198 that the see of St. David's became vacant 
once again. The chapter nominated Gerald, among others, 
and a deputation was sent to consult the king and obtain his 
consent. Richard was then in Normandy, but before the 
deputation arrived he was dead. John, however, accepted 
Gerald's nomination. In his usual faithless manner, as soon 
as he found that the appointment was inconvenient he refused 
to acknowledge and ratify publicly the consent thus informally 
given. Gerald was, however, elected by the chapter of St. 
David's, an election which was treated as void by Canterbury. 

Hence commenced the famous fight for the independence of 
St. David's. Three times Gerald braved all the hardships 
and bore the expense of a journey to Rome. He used every 
weapon in his armoury. He amused the Pope with his wit, 
delighted him with his learning, won his admiration by 
his steadfast resolution to fight on against odds however 
great. He suffered outlawry, and replied by pubHcly excom- 
municating all his enemies. At his third visit to Rome (in 
1203) he obtained considerable aid from the Pope. The 
elections which the chapter had made were annulled, and they 
were commanded to commence de novo. The archbishop was 
also ordered to pay Gerald's costs. Gerald left Rome, how- 
ever, financially ruined, and would have been imprisoned by 
his creditors (who had followed him to Bologna) had not one 
of them declared that he had been warned by a vision not to 
molest the holy man. 

Even now Gerald would not submit. The new election was 
held and appeared adverse to him. He arrived in time to 

299 



HISTORY OF WALES 

denounce his enemies and upset the nomination. So the 
struggle continued, until at last Gerald, deserted by all, per- 
mitted — for it can hardly be otherwise expressed — the election 
of the Prior of I/lanthony. 

The struggle for St. David's had lasted for five years. To 
it Gerald devoted the best of his energies, and, once ended, 
Gerald's pubHc life ended also. For the twenty years which 
elapsed between the election of Prior Geoffrey and Gerald's 
death he lived the life of a studious and holy man. Having 
made his peace with his king and the archbishop, he repaired 
once more to Rome, this time for the benefit of his soul. So 
many were his pious exertions that he obtained, as Dr. Owen 
puts it, " indulgence for ninety-two years, which would seem 
to have left him with a balance in hand." ^ Gerald himself 
was convinced that he narrowly escaped being made a cardinal. 
Only once again did his eyes turn to St. David's. On the 
death of Prior Geoffrey, then Bishop of St. David's, Gerald 
had hoped that his claims would at last be recognized, but an 
ungrateful chapter chose instead lorwerth, Abbot of Talley 
Abbey. 

Gerald's last days were spent peacefully in Wales, perhaps 
at Manorbier. His death took place in 1223. He was buried 
at St. David's, and no more fitting spot could be fotmd as a 
resting-place for his earthly remains. Throughout a life in 
which he had experienced many of the good things of the 
world — ^position, reputation, interesting and highly placed 
friends (for he was intimately acquainted with all the great 
men of his time, including Stephen Langton and Ranulph de 
Glanvill) — he had fought one great fight and met with one great 
disappointment, and both were connected with St. David's. 

As a man Gerald is a perfectly enchanting person. His 
conceit is so naive and so harmlessly expressed that it attracts 
rather than repels. He can tell us of his beauty, his learning, 
his eloquence, his generosity, without disgusting us. When 
speaking of his books he shows unbounded confidence in their 
immortality. He gave Innocent III six volumes of his writings 

1 Which, we may add, he seems to have placed on deposit. 
300 



GEOFFREY, WALTER, & GERALD 

when he particularly wanted to conciliate him, and could 
think of no better gift for Archbishop Baldwin than a copy of 
his own work, the Topography of Ireland. The first preface 
to the Itinerary shows the same complacency. After asking, 
" But among so many species of men, where are to be found 
divine poets ? Where the noble assertors of morals ? Where 
the masters of the Latin tongue ? Who in the present times 
displays lettered eloquence, either in history or poetry ? " 
he makes it tolerably clear that Manorbier had, in his opinion, 
produced one such, for, addressing his dedicatee, Stephen 
I/angton, he says : " To you, therefore, rare, noble, and 
illustrious man, on whom nature and art have showered down 
whatever becomes your supereminent situation, I dedicate my 
works ; but if I fail in this mode of conciliating your favour, 
and if your prayers and avocations should not allow you 
sufficient time to read them, I shall consider the honour of 
letters as vanished, and in hope of its revival I shall inscribe 
my writings to posterity." 

Of his descriptions of the Welsh of his time we have made 
mention in many parts of this book. It is sufficient here to 
state that he admired that people much more than the 
" Saxon serfs," whom he treated as being completely under 
Norman domination. Wales itself he paints as a beautiful 
wild country of noble rivers, of mountains, moors, and 
marshes. Anglesey he regarded as the most fertile part 
of the land, the mountains of Eryri as yielding the best 
pasturage, Meirionydd as being the rudest and most barren 
district. 

The people are treated as essentially fighters. Their whole 
life seems to have been a preparation for, or a devotion to, 
war. He tells us how a Welshman would deem it a disgrace 
to die in bed, and how even boys and youths constantly 
practised such exercises and arts as would fit them for battle. 
Indeed, war seemed to be more important than its cause. 
Sometimes the enemy was the Norman, sometimes another 
Welsh tribe. Sometimes its purpose was to resist aggression, 
frequently its aim was plunder. Indeed, Gerald regarded the 

301 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Welsh, mucli as he admired them, as great raiders, and as 
men whose oath did not bind them. 

As to their social arrangements, it is clear that in the 
twelfth century the Welsh were an uncultivated x)eople. 
They dined in the rudest manner off large trenchers placed 
on rushes on the floor. No table or cloth or napkin was 
used, and the diners ate in messes of three — this number 
being chosen, according to Gerald, in honour of the Trinity. 
The mess system of dining was, of course, common also in 
England at that period, where, however, the usual mess 
number was two, or, in the case of important famiUes or 
functions, four (this practice still lives on among barristers, 
who to-day when dining together form messes of four). 

We are told by our author that in Wales no one ever begged, 
" for the houses of all are common to all." The people were, 
indeed, exceedingly hospitable, and when guests were present 
the host and hostess declined all food until the others were 
satisfied. Frequently they must have denied themselves 
altogether to feed their friends, for Gerald, though he regards 
the Welsh as a frugal and temperate people, tells us that 
when dining at another's table after being hungry for days they 
developed a wolf-Hke hunger and both ate and drank to excess. 
Of their nature Gerald paints a picture from which the 
modem Welshman could in many cases be recognized. Quick 
in repartee, witty in conversation, they were subtle and 
ingenious speakers, bold in speech and fearless of those whom 
others would deem their superiors. They were beautiful 
singers, dehghting in part-songs, which had " as many different 
parts as voices." They were religious and superstitious, 
passionate in nature, vindictive but not jealous. Always 
proud of their birth, Gerald tells us that " even the common 
people retain their genealogy, and can not only readily recount 
the names of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, but 
even refer back to the sixth or seventh generation, or beyond 
them." Their worst fault would seem to have been incon- 
stancy. Altogether a sufficiently pleasing and truthful 
picture. 
302 







^ 



CHAPTER XVIII 
LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

THE thirteenth was a tragic century for Wales. It saw 
the rise of one I/lywelyn to the position of a virtually 
independent prince. It saw the fall of another 
I/lywelyn to the position of a humble tenant of the king of 
England. It saw the break-up of Welsh independence and the 
merging of the Welsh legal and judicial system into that of 
England. It is extremely difficult at this period of time to 
say to what causes the fall should be attributed. In a sense 
lylywelyn the Great was responsible for the loss of Welsh 
independence, although during his lifetime the light of his 
power was never eclipsed. The truth is that the weakness 
of John, the years of conflict between king, Pope, and barons, 
enabled Wales well-nigh to free herself from Saxon bonds. 
This was the work of I^ljrwelyn the Great — a work continued 
with success during the early, ineffective years of Henry III. 

A very wise and clear-sighted man would have hesitated a 
long while before basing any extensive or definite plan of 
campaign or aggrandizement upon the temporary troubles of 
the English royal house or the momentary disruption of the 
English polity. Not so I/lywelyn. He played his life as though 
Johns were always going to rule in England — unless, indeed, 
they handed over the crown to infants of weak mind like 
Henry III. In other words, he appears to have left out of 
account the possibility of an Edward I. Exactly the same 
sort of folly was indulged in by Henry V. He attempted to 
conquer France by taking full advantage of a temporary 
weakness. The weakness passed, and with it the conquest. 
The same with Wales. But with Wales the conquest I^lywelyn 

303 



HISTORY OF WALES 

aimed at was the rulersliip of the whole of Wales by the house 
of Gwynedd. He accomplished it, but by his very success he 
placed his house and his country in a false position. Gwynedd 
and her princes had little claim on the men of Powys and 
Deheubarth. Even had Wales been truly united under one 
man it was not strong enough, either in the number of its 
people or the wealth of its resources, to fight openly against 
England — ^now become a power of some importance in the 
world. The position of complete independence once taken 
up, however, had to be defended. It fell to lylywelyn the 
Second to defend it. He refused to do homage to Edward I 
for his lands or any of them. He claimed to be Prince of 
Wales. Such a claim could not be passed by in silence, and had 
lylywelyn been well advised he would have seen that such a 
claim could not be supported by force. The result was the 
loss of Welsh independence ; the castling of the country from 
end to end ; the merging of Wales into England. But it is 
a loss which must not be too readily laid at the door of the 
second I/lywelyn. It was the false position taken up by 
Llywelyn the Great during years of weakness on the part of 
England which resulted in the fall. 

Llywelyn's Rise to Power 

The opening years of the thirteenth century were mainly 
occupied, as we have seen, by the struggle between Maelgwn 
and Gruffydd, the sons of the l/ord Rhys, for the lordship of 
Deheubarth. Gruffydd was, perhaps, the rightful successor, 
but in a country which recognized gavelkind as the usual mode 
of succession it would almost seem as though each son had an 
equal right. It is clear that the I^ord Rhys had marked 
Gruffydd out for succession, and he appears to have been 
regarded as the rightful heir. Maelgwn, however, was not 
content to allow his brother to rule in peace, as we have seen. 
The result was a temporary weakness of the house of Deheu- 
barth, and enmity between one branch of that house and 
Gwenwynwyn of Powys, who had espoused Maelgwn's cause. 

In the meantime I^lywelyn was steadily advancing his 
304 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

power in the north. In 1201 he subdued the cantref of Lleyn. 
In 1202 he was openly opposing Gwenwynwyn, for, as the 
chronicler says, " though Gwenwynwyn was near to him as 
to kindred, he was a foe to him as to deeds." Two years 
before the death of lylywelyn's cousin Gruffydd ap Conan had 
probably resulted in an accession of territory to I^lywelyn — 
had, indeed, made him master of almost the whole of Gwynedd. 
Ivleyn, as we have seen, was added in 1201, and in 1202 he 
was acknowledged overlord by Howel ap Gruffydd, who held 
the lordship of Meirionydd. 

lylywelyn was thus strong enough by 1202 to feel entitled 
to call upon the other princes and chieftains of North Wales 
to aid him in his struggle with Gwenwynwyn. Bhse ap 
Madog alone refused and attempted the thankless task of 
peacemaker. For his good offices he was rewarded by the loss 
of his territory, which lyljwelyn seized, and the grant of the 
castle of Crogen as a gift made "in charity." After thus 
seizing Penllyn and Bala Castles from the hapless Elise peace 
seems to have been made with Gwenwynwyn, who was thus 
left free to aid Maelgwn in his struggle for I/lanymddyvri and 
Dinevor ^ Castles and the rulership of the south. 

John and Llywelyn 

We must now pass in review the relationship which existed 
between the courts of John and lylywelyn. On John's 
accession in 1199 he seems to have looked with favour upon 
Llywelyn. Shortly afterward a change takes place and we 
find Gwenwynwyn rather than lylywelyn accepted as the friend 
of England. By 1201, however, Llywelyn is again regarded 
as the prince with whom it is most desirable to make terms, 
and in that year a formal treaty of peace was concluded 
between king and prince. I/lywelyn was recognized as the 
rightful possessor of the lands he had won, subject to the 
recognition of John's overlordship and of " any fair legal pro- 
ceedings which might be brought against him under English 
or Welsh law." Three years later lAywelyn contracted a 
^ Also spelt Dinevwr or Dinefwr, and Dynevor. 

u 305 



HISTORY OF WALES 

marriage with John's natural daughter Joan. The bond thus 
forged was to prove of material assistance to the Prince of 
Gwynedd in his later struggle with the English. With his wife 
he received from John the castle and manor of EUesmere. 

The years which follow are mainly noteworthy on account 
of the fall of the house of Breose. In the early part of John's 
reign William de Breose had been high in favour. He had 
been given power to conquer and hold what he could in Wales, 
and had received large grants of land and castles in South 
Wales. In 1207 the jealous, crafty, and utterly dishonourable 
John tore up all the grants, went back on all his promises, 
required William de Breose to surrender all his lands and 
handed them over to Faulkes de Breaute. William and his 
sons resisted. They were driven over to Ireland, and later 
brought back captive by John. Young William and his 
mother were put to death, as the chronicler significantly tells 
us, " unmercifully " in Windsor Castle.^ 

The fall of the mighty marcher house of Breose saw the rise 
of that of Herbert, which was now represented by Peter fitz 
Herbert, who received about this time a third part of the 
lordship of Brecknock. Gwenwynwyn seems to have deemed 
the moment opportune for the recovery of this district and 
promptly attacked the new lord. John, however, supported 
his favourite. Gwenwynwyn was seized at Shrewsbury and 
imprisoned. His liberty was subsequently obtained by the 
render of twenty hostages and the surrender of all his lands to 
the custody of the Crown. I^lywelyn instantly took advantage 
of the fall of his rival, and, in the words of the chronicler, " took 
possession of all his territory, his castles, and his courts." 

I/lywelyn, now master of North and East Wales, began to 
turn his eyes toward the south, and prepared to attack 
Maelgwn, who was still a power in the south-west. Maelgwn, 
fearing that I^lywelyn would obtain a permanent footing in 
his territories if he gained possession of the castles therein, 
voluntarily destroyed the castles of Ystrad Meurig and 
burned Dineirth and Aberystwyth. I^lywelyn, however, by 

1 The form of death was starvation. 
306 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

no means deterred, took Aberystwyth and repaired it, and 
occupied the whole of Cantref Penwedig, giving the other 
portion of Ceredigion above Aeron to his nephews, the sons of 
Gruffydd ap Rhys, and the opponents of Maelgwn. 

It was in the year 1210 that John undertook his Irish 
campaign. lylywelyn seems to have taken advantage of the 
king's absence to ravage the territory of the Barl of Chester, 
who had lately built castles at Deganwy and Holywell. 
Throughout the preceding year (1209) I^lywelyn appears, how- 
ever, to have been on friendly terms with John. He probably 
attended the council at Woodstock in October 1209 and swore 
homage to his overlord. We also know that John and I^lywelyn 
were exchanging letters and presents throughout 1209 and the 
early part of 12 10. The writer of the Brut is therefore probably 
inaccurate in assigning the recovery of Powys by Gwenwynwyn 
with the aid of John to the year 1209. It more probably 
belongs to 1210. 

It would now seem that John had reached the position he 
had been playing for for some years. I^lywelyn had been 
lured on to regard himself as the king's friend. He had made 
an enemy of Gwenwynwyn in the east, of Maelgwn in the 
south, of the Earl of Chester in the north-east. John evidently 
considered that he had isolated lylywelyn sufficiently to break 
him easily. This was, of course, John's usual plan. It did 
not immediately succeed in the case of Wales, because John 
had forgotten, or overlooked, the Welsh love of liberty — a 
strange omission in one who had once been a marcher lord. 

Whatever may be the cause or purpose, we jBnd the English 
king turning from lylywelyn to Gwenwynwyn. The latter 
prince is again restored to power, and his old ally, Maelgwn, 
" out of joy thereat," as the chronicler puts it, " made peace 
with King John without regarding the oath and engagement 
that existed between him and Rhys and Owain his nephews, 
the sons of Gruffydd son of Rhys." Maelgwn signalized one 
peace by the declaration of war upon his nephews. They, 
however, raised an army and made a night attack upon 
Maelgwn's forces, and completely defeated them. 

307 



HISTORY OF WALES 

John now (12 ii) determined to attack I^lywelyn and to 
bring him to complete submission. He summoned to him 
at Caerleon, or Chester, Gwenwynwyn of Powys, Howel ap 
Gruffydd of Gwynedd, Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, Maredudd 
ap Robert Cydevain, and Maelgwn and Rhys Gryc, the last 
two being chieftains of Deheubarth. lylywelyn seems to have 
realized that the forces against him were too powerful to be 
met in battle, and relied upon the old policy of retreat. As the 
Brut puts it, lylywelyn " moved with his forces into the middle 
of the country, and his property to the mountains of Bryri ; 
and the forces of Mona, with their property, in the same 
manner." John, meanwhile, had collected his forces at 
Deganwy. The expedition was a complete failure owing to 
John's neglect to pay attention to the commissariat depart- 
ment. The month being May, no crops were growing or ready 
for harvesting, no fruit could be plucked. As to cattle and 
all movable property, Llj^welyn had doubtless ordered his 
followers to bring all their possessions with them. John's 
army was thus unable to get food from the Welsh, and appa- 
rently had made no arrangements to obtain it from England, 
so that, as the Brut says, " the army was in so great a want 
of provisions that an egg was sold for a penny-halfpenny ; 
and it was a deUcious feast to them to get horseflesh." 

John, thus hampered by want of food, retreated, and was in 
England by, or about, Whitsuntide. Provisions were collected 
and steps taken to prevent a repetition of the fiasco of May. 
Returning with a larger army than before, he built many 
castles in Gwynedd, and rapidly crossed over the Conway 
river, pushing on quickly toward Eryri, where I^lywelyn was 
still encamped. On the way he found an opportunity to 
destroy Bangor by fire as an answer to Bishop Robert's 
refusal to meet an excommunicated king. 

It seems clear that I^lywelyn realized that further resistance 
was useless. He therefore determined to make submission 
and took advantage of the fact that his wife was John's 
daughter to extract the most favourable terms possible. 
Joan was sent to the king to make peace " in any manner she 
308 



I 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

might be able." In answer to her embassy John ordered a 
safe-conduct to be given to lylywelyn, and eventually made 
peace with that prince on the terms that he should hand over, be- 
sides hostages/ some 20,000 cattle and forty steeds, and should 
transfer the midland district ^ to the king for ever. These were 
harsh terms, and reduced I^lywelyn from prince of the major 
part of Wales to the position of a petty chieftain in the north. 
It is evident, however, that at this time John was too strong 
for him. The rest of the Welsh princes now submitted to the 
king, with the exception of Rhys and Owain, the sons of 
Gruffydd of Deheubarth, and they were compelled to surrender 
shortly afterward. As soon as they had made peace, however, 
we find their imcles Rhys Gryc and Maelgwn repenting of 
their bargain with the king and demolishing the royal castle 
of Aberystwyth, which Faulkes de Breaute had lately built. 

By the summer of 12 12 I^lywelyn had decided to make an 
attempt to throw off the royal yoke. In the spring of that 
year he and his wife had spent Easter with John at Cambridge. 
It is significant that he returned to wage war upon his host. 
Doubtless signs were not wanting which showed to the discern- 
ing lylywelyn that the years when John's power was absolute 
were passing away. However that may be, we find him, on 
his return, confederating with Gwenwynwyn, Maelgwn, Madog, 
and Maredudd for the purpose of destroying the castles lately 
built in Gwynedd and of regaining the liberty which, in recent 
years, had been threatened, if not lost. 

The new league was successful from the very beginning. 
John himself, engaged as he was in the north with WilHam of 
Scotland, was unable personally to lead the forces of England 
against Wales, and the combination of almost all the Welsh 
princes was too strong for the marcher lords. All the castles 
in Gwynedd lately built by John were destroyed, except 
Deganwy and Rhuddlan. As regards Powys, Gwenwynwyn 
besieged Robert Vepont ^ in his new castle of Mathraval, and 

1 About thirty in number, including that GrufEudd, Llywelyn's son, whose 
subsequent life was so tragic. 

2 Probably including Rhos, Rhufoniog, Tegeingl, and DyfiEryn Clwyd. 

3 Or Vieuxpont. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Rhys Gryc burnt Swansea. While Robert's castle was 
besieged, John hastened his army to the support of his lieu- 
tenant, and escorted Robert from Mathraval, which they 
burnt to the ground in order to prevent it from falling into 
the hands of the Welsh. Robert Vepont retired to Shrewsbury, 
where he revenged himself for the loss of his castle by hanging 
a mere baby, Rhys, the son of Maelgwn, who was a hostage 
to the king, and who was not yet seven years of age. Other 
hostages were also hung, the most important of whom were 
Howel ap Cadwalader, Madog ap Maelgwn, and Meurig 
Barach. 

John now collected his forces at Chester for the purpose 
of finally crushing I^lywelyn. On the other hand, the Welsh 
princes were immensely strengthened in their resistance by 
the moral support given to them by Pope Innocent III, who 
absolved I^lywelyn, Gwenwynwyn, and Maelgwn from the oath 
of fidelity which they had given to John, and urged them to 
oppose the excommunicated king, at the same time lifting the 
interdict, which had previously been laid upon the whole of 
Wales as well as upon England, from the territories ruled by 
the three princes. 

The result was a series of successes which enabled the allies 
to regain control of the midland district which had been taken 
from I^lywelyn by the terms of the treaty of 1211. In the 
meantime John had thought better of his proposed expedition 
into Wales. Warnings from several sources, including Joan, 
I^lywelyn's wife, had persuaded him that the barons meditated 
his murder in the fastnesses of Wales, and, reaUzing that he 
would be at the mercy of his enemies if those aroimd him 
really desired his death, he cancelled all preparations and 
returned without having accompHshed anything. An effort 
was then made by John to bribe two Welsh nobles to attempt 
the reconquest of the district recently won by lylywelyn. It 
came to nothing, however, and the Prince of Gwynedd remained 
master of the north, and shortly afterward still further 
strengthened his power by reducing the castles at Deganwy 
and Rhuddlan. 
310 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

Struggle for Llandovery Castle 

Meantime Rhys and Owain, the sons of Gruffydd of Deheu- 
barth, being practically disinherited by the successes of 
Maelgwn, who, as we have seen, was a member of the alliance 
against John, sent to the king for aid in recovering their 
patrimony. John replied by sending to the seneschal of 
Hereford and to Faulkes de Breaute, seneschal of Cardiff, 
orders to compel Rhys Gryc — ^Maelgwn' s ally in all the 
struggles with young Rhys and Owain — to dehver up Castle 
I^lanymddyvri. Rhys having refused to share a single acre 
with his nephews, they, together with Faulkes, invaded his 
territories and drove him to take refuge in the castle of 
Dinevor, which he strengthened. Young Rhys invested the 
castle, and, after an organized attack with siege engines and 
miners, succeeded in compelling Rhys Gryc to surrender it 
and give hostages. The elder Rhys now retired with his 
family to his brother Maelgwn at Castle I^lanymddyvri, which 
they strengthened and prepared for a siege. Young Rhys, 
however, was again successful, the garrison capitulating on 
the terms that they should have safety of life and Hmb. Rhys 
Gryc thereupon attempted to flee from Wales, but was 
caught at Caermarthen and flung into the king's prison. 

The Campaign of 121 5 

We have now reached the fateful year 12 15. Speaking of 
this year, the Brut tells us that " all the good men of England 
and all the princes of Wales combined together against the 
king, so that none of them without the others would enter into 
peace or agreement or truce with the king, until he restored 
to the churches their laws and privileges which he and his 
ancestors had aforetime taken from them, and until he had 
also restored to the good men of England and Wales their lands, 
and the castles, which he at his will had taken from them 
without either right or law." 

John had endeavoured to prevent the Welsh princes from 
being brought into the powerful combination which was slowly 



HISTORY OF WALES 

forming against him. I^lywelyn had four hostages returned 
in 12 14, Early in 12 15 the king sent four men, including the 
Bishop of I^ichfield, as ambassadors to see lylywelyn, Gwen- 
wynwyn, Maelgwn, and Madog and ascertain their terms for 
support in the struggle which was now impending, and further 
overtures were made to Gwenwynwyn in April of the same 
year. It was in vain. Apart from the fact that John's 
promises were worthless, the Welsh princes shrewdly suspected 
that they could gain more for themselves than John had 
power to give them. 

I/lywelyn seems to have been the first to strike a blow 
against John. As soon as the northern barons (including one 
bishop, Giles de Breose) had entered Ivondon,^ lylywelyn in- 
vested Shrewsbury, which was promptly surrendered without 
opposition, the castle being delivered up to him as well as 
the town. This was but the overture to a campaign which 
resulted in the destruction of many a castle in Wales, and 
in the driving out or subjection of the greater part of the 
English. 

As we have seen, Giles de Breose was taking a prominent 
part in the insurrection. He early sent his brother Robert 
(or Reginald) to aid the Welsh princes, and later came himself 
to Wales to give them his support. I^ater, as we shall see, 
I/lywelyn was the acknowledged head of a powerful army 
comprising all the princes of Wales, including Maelgwn, Rhys 
Gryc, and young Rhys and Owain, the two branches of the 
house of Deheubarth, who after so many years of enmity 
were now reconciled. 

The de Breoses, after but a few days' fighting, obtained 
PencelH and Abergavenny Castles, together with White Castle 
and the Isle of Cynwreid.^ I^ater Aberhonddu, Maes Hyvaidd, 
Gelli, Blaenllyvni, and Buellt Castle ^ were all obtained with- 
out opposition. Soon afterward Reginald de Breose married 
Gwladus, the dark-haired daughter of lylywelyn, a mode of 

1 May 17, 1215. 2 Or Ynys Gynwreid, or Skenfrith. 

3 These may be identified with Brecon, Hay, Radnor, Blaen Wyfni, and 
Builth. 

312 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

strengthening the alUance between these two powerful houses 
which was followed by John de Breose in 1219, when he married 
Ivlywelyn's youngest daughter, Margaret. It may also be 
remembered that David, Llywelyn's second son and successor, 
married Isabella de Breose, so that the two families were very 
closely connected. Indeed, the de Breoses were rapidly be- 
coming a Welsh family. Matilda de Breose had married a 
Gruffydd, the lyord Rhys' eldest son, and was the mother 
of the younger Rhys who had for so many years opposed 
his uncles Rhys Gryc and Maelgwn, while another Matilda de 
Breose married somewhat later Rhys Mechyll, the elder son 
of Rhys Gryc. 

While these successes were being gained by the de Breoses, 
Walter ap Gruffydd or Gwallter ap Einion Clud took posses- 
sion, with the consent of the other Welsh leaders, of Pain's 
Castle and Colwyn Castle and the cantref of Elvael. At the 
same time the Welsh completely overran D5rfed, except 
Cemaes, and that they ravaged, and Narberth and Maen- 
clochog, which they burned. Young Rhys also, having raised 
a considerable army, obtained possession of Cydweli and Carn- 
wyllon and burned the castle, from whence he went to Gower, 
reduced Castle Loughor (lylychwr), attacked the castle of Hugh 
(Castell Hen, possibly, at Talybont), which was defended, 
but subsequently burnt and the garrison put to the sword, 
and burnt the castles at Oystermouth (Ystrum Ivlwynarth) 
and Seinhenydd. (Seinhenydd has been identified by some 
with Swansea. It is probably unconnected with Senghenydd.) 

By this time Magna Carta had been signed. So far as 
Wales is concerned it was only important at that time because 
of the inclusion of clauses 56-58, which provided for release 
of hostages, cession back of castles and territories seized by 
the king, and the return of documents signed and granted or 
deposited for the purpose of guaranteeing good behaviour. 
We hesitate to expand the treatment of even the Welsh 
clauses in Magna Carta, since, as every one knows, John early 
showed an intention to treat Magna Carta as a mere piece of 
paper, of no binding force and of no validity. The result of 

313 



HISTORY OF WALES 

tliis attitude was the calling in of I^ouis, Dauphin of France, 
by the English barons, and a renewal of the Welsh wars by 
the princes of Wales. 

I^l5rwelyn quickly collected around him well-nigh all the 
Welsh princes. The first place to be attacked was Caer- 
marthen. Within five days that important and powerful 
stronghold was taken and razed to the ground. Next the 
victorious army demolished the castles of I^lanstephen, St. 
Clear's, I^augharne, and Narberth. From thence I^lywelyn 
proceeded to Ceredigion and attacked the castle of Fmlyn, 
forced the men of Cemais to do homage to him, and destroyed 
the castle of their lord, now situated atTrevdraeth (Newport) in 
place of the older Nevern. Shortly afterward, about Christmas 
time, lylywelyn's arms were crowned with two great successes 
— ^the capture of Aberteifi (Cardigan) and Cilgerran Castles. 

Llywelyn Leader of the Welsh 

The Welsh chieftains were now in a position to deal as they 
would with the lands of South Wales. At the same time 
I^lywelyn was their acknowledged head and had powerful 
family influence through the de Breoses upon the fortunes of 
South Wales. It is therefore not surprising that we find 
him, in 12 16, summoning the Welsh chieftains to Aberdovey 
to discuss the partition of land between the various claimants 
of the house of the lyord Rhys. 

This council, to which were summoned " all the Welsh 
princes for the most part and all the wise men of Gwynedd," 
was similar in nature to those meetings which from the time 
of the Council of St. Albans continued to be held in ever- 
increasing frequency in England and in later times obtained 
the name of Parhament. The division of South Wales which 
was then made was surprisingly favourable to Maelgwn and 
Rhys Gryc. The sons of Gruffydd ap Rhys, who had for years 
been successfully resisting the encroachments of their uncles 
and Gwenwynwyn, had to be content with part of Ceredigion 
and Cardigan Castle. The rest went to their rivals in the 
race for power in Deheubarth. Maelgwn received a large 




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LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

part of Dyfed, including Cemais and Bmlyn and the castles 
of Caermarthen and Cilgerran and two commotes in Ystrad 
Tywi and two commotes in Ceredigion. Rhys Gryc obtained 
Cantref Mawr and part of Cantref Bychan and Cydweli and 
Carnwyllion Castles. Although this division appears to us to 
be none too fair to the sons of Gruffydd, it seems to have 
been accepted by them, and no attempt was made for many 
years to alter the partition thus made. 

In the same year Gwenwynwyn seems to have decided that 
I^lywelyn's power was inimical to his own greatness. He 
therefore made peace with John and broke away from his 
allies of the preceding year, " treating with contempt," as the 
Brut puts it, " the oath and the engagements which he had 
pUghted to the chieftains of England and Wales and violating 
the homage which he had done to Llywelyn ap lorwerth and 
surrendering the hostages which he had given thereon." 
lylywelyn, reahzing that the defection of one of the leading 
chieftains of Wales was playing into John's hands and seriously 
weakening the national movement, made strenuous efforts to 
regain Gwenwynwyn's aid. We read that he " laboured by 
every thought and affection and deed to recall him back." 
But though bishops and abbots were sent to try to dissuade 
the Prince of Powys from pursuing the road he had taken, it 
was all in vain, and lylywelyn, seeing that he could not have 
his help as a friend, determined to destroy his power as an 
enemy. Calling about him most of the princes of Wales, 
he made a sudden attack upon Powys and compelled Gwen- 
wynwyn to flee to Chester. Powys itself was abandoned to 
I/lywelyn, who was not slow to make himself master of the 
whole principality. Gwenwynwyn had chosen an ill time in 
which to oppose lylywelyn. The northern prince was practi- 
cally master of Wales, and the king of England, to whom the 
Prince of Powys turned, was so beset with his own troubles 
as to have but little time to devote to Welsh affairs and little 
power to give or bring against friend or foe. Whatever might 
have been the upshot had John regained his old ascendancy, 
Gwenwynwyn would not have profited much, for the year 



HISTORY OF WALES 

wliicli saw his defection from the national cause also saw his 
death. Thus passes from the page of history one who, born 
to be a patriot, died almost a traitor to his country. He 
possessed many of the good and evil qualities common to 
many Celts ; energy and bravery in a high degree, mixed with 
an imperious and a passionate temper which could not brook 
submission to anyone. 

It was in the October of this year that John died. Before 
his death he had made an ineffective raid upon the Welsh 
border and had burnt the towns of Gelli and Maes Hyvaidd 
and demolished the castles there, afterward sacking and 
destroying Oswestry. It was the last ill deed that England's 
worst king was destined to do to Wales ; and it was not 
without its bright side, for when John, nearing the Welsh 
border, sent messengers to Reginald de Breose and the Welsh 
princes calling upon them to join with him and make peace, 
the men of Wales without exception stood firm, and John's 
messengers returned, having accomphshed nothing. 

With the passing of John, however, the personal feud which 
had alienated the house of de Breose from the king came to 
an end. The starving of Matilda de Breose and her son in 
Windsor Castle was a crime for which John had paid to the 
full. The young Henry did not inherit the legacy of hate 
which his father might have been expected to have handed 
down to him. The result was that with the coming of the 
new king Reginald de Breose reconsidered his position and 
went over from the Welsh side to the English. This new 
defection brought out against Reginald both the forces of his 
nephews Rhys and Owain, the sons of Gruffydd, who, as we 
have seen, had lately been given a portion of Ceredigion, 
and also Prince lylywelyn himself. A large part of Buellt 
was wasted, and Aberhonddu Castle itself attacked. At last, 
Reginald having been surrounded and brought to bay, he 
wisely surrendered to lylywelyn and received from him the 
castle of Swansea.^ lylywelyn shortly afterward took advan- 

1 We take this to be the place mentioned in the Brut as Sein Henydd, 
although Senghenydd has been suggested. 

316 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

tage of his presence in Gower to pusli on to tlie west and 
attack the Flemings. Haverford was surrounded and pre- 
parations for its reduction made, when peace was arranged, 
the terms being that the Flemings should give twenty hostages 
from Rhos and Pembroke and pay looo marks by next 
Michaelmas, or else they were to do homage to lylywelyn and 
hold their lands imder him for ever. 

About the same time Rhys Gryc seems to have indulged in 
an extensive raid upon Gower, and to have driven out many 
of the BngHsh who were dwelUng there, filling their places 
with Welshmen. 

In the meantime lylywelyn and the Welsh princes generally 
had completely lost the Pope's support, which had proved so 
valuable in the early days of the struggle with John. I^lywelyn, 
indeed, had been excommunicated. Nevertheless he was still 
strong enough to resist the terms of peace originally offered 
by Henry III through the regent. At last, however, peace 
was made on terms which must have reached I^lywelyn's 
highest hopes. The important royal castles of Caermarthen 
and Aberteifi (Cardigan) were given over to his charge until 
the king was of age, and the lands of Gwenwynwyn were also 
granted to him as custodian until Gwenwynwyn's infant son, 
Gruffydd, should attain his majority. Llywelyn, for his part, 
did homage to the king at Worcester in the presence of the 
magnates of the realm, and persuaded young Rhys and all the 
Welsh princes to go to Henry's court to do him homage. 

Llywelyn now turned his attention once more to the 
Flemings of Rhos. In this campaign I^lywelyn appears not 
to have acted alone, but as the leader of the Welsh princes 
generally. The expedition was made, according to the Brut, 
in consequence of the Flemings having committed frequent 
depredations upon the Welsh in spite of the treaty of peace 
lately entered into and the compact concluded at Worcester. 
However this may be, the campaign was both short and 
successful. The very first day Narberth Castle was rushed, 
and its garrison put to the sword or captured or consumed by 
the flames which destroyed the castle. On the next day Castle 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Gwys and the surrounding town were both burnt ; on the third 
day Haverf ord itself was laid waste by fire, even to the castle 
walls. Finally, as the chronicler puts it, " he [Llywelyn] 
went round Rhos and Deugledd5rv in five days, making vast 
slaughter of the people of the country." At last a truce was 
made with the Flemings, and I^lywelyn once more returned to 
his northern home. 

Llywelyn Supreme 

It is now desirable to state shortly the position at this time 
between I^lywelyn, the Enghsh Government, and the Welsh 
princes. The policy of Henry Ill's ministers, and in particular 
of William Marshal and the legate Guala, and in subsequent 
years of their successors, Hubert de Burgh and Pandulph, was 
to conciUate lylywelyn rather than to drive him to rebellion. 
It would seem that these statesmen had at last reaHzed that 
the conquest of Wales, if possible, would necessitate a vast 
expenditure of fives and money, and would never be wholly 
successful. They seem, therefore, to have decided on having 
a contented, prosperous, and friendly neighbour rather than 
an enemy, ever dangerous, even when conquered. They 
would seem also to have had in mind the wartungs of that 
shrewd Welsh-Norman Giraldus who had pointed out the diffi- 
culties underlying the conquest and control of Wales, and had 
said with excellent wisdom that what the Welsh nation needed 
to be happy and contented was one prince, and that a good one. 

Here, then, was the opportunity to give Wales prosperity 
without completely refinquishing control on the part of 
England. lylywelyn was a prince and a good one. He had 
shown himself capable of rising by his own capacity and 
eminent qualities to a supreme position among the chieftains 
of Wales. He had also done homage to Henry III with all 
due formafity at Worcester. He was, in a word, the most 
suitable person to place at the head of Welsh affairs, both 
from the point of view of Wales and of England. In con- 
sequence of this feefing and this attitude on the part of the 
English Government, we find I/lywelyn for the next few years 

3i8 




PI,ATe; XlyVI. SEAI, of IvtYWEIyYN THE GrEAT 31! 

The lower figure represents a small oval counter seal 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

the favoured friend rather than the enemy of England. Grants 
of markets and manorial rights were made to him ; his son 
David was recognized as his heir ; and in 1222, as Professor 
lyloyd says, " he was still treated by the Crown as its best friend 
and supporter in all dealings with the princes of Wales." 

The year 1221 is noteworthy for an event which marks a 
change from the old method of settling disputes by battle to 
a new and better way which at once saw justice done and 
preserved the peace. As we have seen, some years before 
Ivl3rwelyn had called a council at Aberdovey to decide how 
South Wales should be divided among the various claimants 
of the house of Rhys. As we suggested, young Rhys got 
none too much as his share, and although he accepted the 
division at the time, we find him in this present year angry 
because of the gift of Caermarthen by lylywelyn to Maelgwn 
and the prince's subsequent refusal to give Aberteifi to 
him. I^lywelyn retorted by seizing Aberystwyth Castle. 
In the old days this would have been a signal for a general 
war, but now either lylywelyn was too powerful or the times 
were better, and young Rhys, instead of flying to arms, 
repaired to the court of his overlord. King Henry, and made 
formal complaint. The result was that Henry cited I^lywelyn 
and the lords of the marches to Shrewsbury to have the matter 
placed before the king's council. In that council young Rhys 
was successful ; he and I^lywelyn were reconciled, I^lywelyn 
relinquished Aberteifi, and the peace was kept. 

While this dispute was proceeding the relations between 
I/lywelyn and some of the most important marcher lords were 
admirable. In the north Earl Ranulf of Chester was his 
friend, and after 1220 his relative by marriage, and in the 
south the family of de Breose, united as it was with the house 
of Gwynedd by many ties, remained on cordial terms with 
him. In 1221, indeed, John de Breose, on the advice of 
lylywelyn, rebuilt two castles which had been destroyed in the 
late wars, and occupied them. As regards the Mortimers in 
the east, the feeling was not quite so friendly, but on the other 
hand that family was elo longer the object of the mahgnant 

319 



HISTORY OF WALES 

hate which had been directed against it in the early years 
of the Norman occupation. 

Llywelyn and William Marshal the Younger 

In one quarter, however, I^lywelyn had a dangerous enemy. 
The old Karl Marshal was now succeeded in the lordship or 
honour of Pembroke by William Marshal the younger. Track- 
ing his father's wisdom, he saw j5t to look upon Prince Llywelyn 
with the eyes of a marcher lord rather than those of a great 
Englishman. Having taken that view, it was natural that he 
should attempt to reduce I^lywelyn's power by war. Con- 
sequently, in 1223, on his return from Ireland, we find him 
seizing Cardigan and Caermarthen Castles and attempting the 
occupation of Cy dwell. I^lywelyn promptly countered the 
aggression by sending his son Gruffudd with a considerable 
army to oppose the Earl's progress. After an indecisive 
battle the English Crown stepped in to prevent further fight- 
ing and cited both lylywelyn and William to I^udlow. " And," 
as the chronicler says, " the prince and the earl appeared 
together at I^udlow ^ before the council of the king and the 
archbishop." With the memory of I^lywelyn's depredations 
on the Flemings, the Earl Marshal probably had good cause 
to regard the prince as his particular enemy. However that 
may be, apparently no reconciliation was arrived at in this 
council. lylywelyn seems to have left the meeting-place an 
angry man. The English Government, for its part, appears 
to have decided in favour of the Earl Marshal, or rather against 
Ivlywelyn, for we find several indications that from that time 
Llywelyn was less in favour than for years past. He retaliated 
by attacking Builth Castle, then in the hands of the de Breose 
family. Hubert de Burgh now saw that a fresh outbreak 
between the Welsh and the marchers was impending, and would 
fall with grievous results unless promptly prevented. The 
royal troops were rapidly advanced to the Welsh borders, Builthi 
Castle was relieved, and Montgomery occupied and subsequently^ 
converted into one of the strongest border fortresses. 

^ Professor Lloyd doubts whether the meeting ever took place. 
320 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

Ivlywelyn now took the wise course of submitting to the 
Crown, and in consequence we find very fair peace terms 
arranged between the two states. Ivli^welyn's position had, 
indeed, become one of some danger. As Professor lyloyd says : 
" He had forfeited, of the gains of the civil war, Cardigan, 
Carmarthen, and Montgomery, and his south Welsh allies . . , 
ran the risk of losing everything in his cause." Bearing in 
mind this position, the terms offered were by no means onerous, 
lylywelyn was to relinquish the fruits of his Shropshire raid 
in the early part of the year. Montgomery, Cardigan, and 
Caermarthen remained in the hands of their holders as at the 
time of the peace, but on the other hand the princes of South 
Wales recovered all the losses they had sustained at the 
hands of the Barl Marshal. lylywelyn thus gained vicariously, 
and indeed directly, for he was enabled by this settlement to 
keep as friends and as allies the men of South Wales, who, 
had their provinces been taken from them, would have been 
potent only as enemies. 

Friendship and Enmity 

The years which immediately follow are free from events of 
any importance. Presents which pass between the English 
court and Joan, Ivlywelyn's wife, on the one hand and the 
Welsh prince and the king on the other hand show that in 
1225 cordial relationship still existed between the royal and 
princely houses. In 1226 lylywelyn, his wife, and his heir 
met the king at Shrewsbury, when a further manor was 
granted to Joan, and in April of the same year the Pope, 
Honorius III, granted to Joan — who, it will be remembered, 
was John's natm:al daughter — a declaration of legitimacy. 
The death of the head of the Mortimers and the absence of 
the Barl Marshal in Ireland further tended toward peace in 
the marches. 

In the early part of 1228, however, a sudden change came 
over Welsh affairs. The Welsh seem to have regarded the 
transference of the castle of Montgomery from the Crown to 
the hands of Hubert de Burgh as a hostile act ; the castle 

X 321 



HISTORY OF WALES 

was surrounded and an attempt made to reduce it. There are 
grounds for believing tliat the justiciar proposed to use Mont- 
gomery as a centre from whence to reduce the surrounding 
country to submission. Apart from this scheme, which was 
frustrated by the new Welsh movement, Montgomery was an 
important and valuable stronghold, and the English were by 
no means prepared to allow it to fall into the hands of the 
Welsh. At first I^lywelyn attempted to patch up peace, but 
after a few friendly overtures the attempt failed and war was 
commenced. The Brut tells us that " King Henry, having 
with him the strength of England, came to Wales, intending 
to subjugate lylywelyn . . . and all the Welsh princes." 
The strength of the Welsh had been somewhat reduced in the 
year preceding by the outbreak of another family feud between 
the members of the house of Deheubarth, but with the coming 
of the English the Welsh princes sank their differences and 
rallied to the standard of lylywelyn, now the acknowledged 
prince and leader of the Welsh. As usual, the English found 
themselves unable to overcome the natural difficulties of the 
country. As in the campaigns of Henry II and John, the 
English forces were defeated rather by lack of food than by 
battle. The Welsh, however, won some advantages apart 
from the aid rendered by nature. William de Breose was 
captured, and considerable loss inflicted on the English by 
means of the usual guerrilla warfare. Terms of peace were 
arranged, and the English consented to destroy the castle 
which Hubert de Burgh had commenced to build in order to 
threaten Arwystli, Llywelyn on his part agreeing to pay ar 
considerable sum for the privilege of being allowed to justifyf | 
Hubert's prophecy when he called this castle, which was to be, 
but never was, ' Hubert's Folly.' On the other hand, I^lywelyni i 
had made a handsome profit out of WilHam de Breose, whc^ 
was only ransomed on the terms that he handed over Builth 
Castle, together with a large sum of money and some land — 
a ransom which availed the unhappy William but little, 
for he was hanged by I^lywelyn before two years hadj 
passed for being caught " in the chamber of the prince, witl 
322 




o ^ 

O '4i 



X I 

t-r 



1 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

the princess Joan, daughter of King John, and wife of the 
prince." ^ 

For the time being peace was estabhshed. Llywelyn 
rendered homage and the amicable relations of the preceding 
years were resumed. It was Hubert de Burgh's unquenchable 
ambition that was mainly responsible for the outbreak of 123 1. 
It was becoming ever more evident that the justiciar would not be 
content to be a mere marcher lord. That he had designs on the 
whole of South Wales is probable, that he was steadily increasing 
his power in the marches is certain. He had obtained control 
over the Welsh lands of the Earl of Gloucester, and later of 
John de Breose, and on the death of the Earl Marshal his 
power was pre-eminent among the marcher lords. 

The outbreak of 1231 was, however, both sudden and un- 
expected. As before, lylywelyn abruptly determined on war, 
although but a few months before he had been on friendly 
terms with England. The campaign which followed was one 
long series of successes. Castle after castle fell to the victorious 
Welsh. South Wales was swept well-nigh from end to end. 
Perhaps the most important gain of all was the capture of 
Cardigan Castle — an exploit which had been simplified by 
young Maelgwn's achievement in burning the town of Cardigan 
even to the castle gate. 

As a reply lylywelyn was, as usual, excommunicated. Relief 
was hurried to Newport Castle and one of the grants to Joan 
was revoked. It was, however, some months before Henry 
assembled his main army at Gloucester. Even then no 

^ The whole story is a sad one and we touch upon it lightly. That Joan, 
now a matron of many years and the mother of a numerous family, should 
have proved frail after standing by her husband through all their early 
triaLs as his best friend and most potent ally makes us hope that those annalists 
who regard the story of infidelity as a mere excuse for William's death are 
correct, even though it stamps lylywelyn with the mark of murderer. But 
in justice to that prince it is necessary to remember that pohtical expediency 
was against William's death. David, Llywelyn's heir, was about to be married 
to WiUiam's daughter Margaret. And, further, I,lywelyn's vengeance was not 
directed against WiUiam alone, for Joan also was imprisoned. William him- 
self was hanged on a tree in broad dayUght before nearly a thousand men who 
had assembled to witness the downfall of their prince's private enemy. The 
affair had but few political consequences and David actually married Margaret. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

important steps seem to have been taken to attack the Welsh, 
the EngH^ forces apparently contenting themselves with 
castle-building. With the approach of winter the English 
withdrew. Before they returned to the attack overtures for 
peace had been made, and by the end of November 1231 a 
cessation of hostilities took place. The reason for this sudden 
relinquishment of all attempts to avenge the losses sustained 
by Hubert de Burgh is probably to be found in the fact that 
Hubert himself was declining in power. Peter des Roches 
was now back in England, aiming at the downfall of his rival, 
and neither Hubert nor the English Crown was completely 
free to give much attention to Welsh affairs. 

By 1233 the storm which had been brewing in England broke, 
and while his eastern neighbour was in the throes of civil strife 
lyly welyn was not slow to take advantage of that fact in order 
to advance his own position. Henry was throughout the 
summer and autumn of that year engaged in conflict with the 
powerful Earl Richard of Pembroke, brother to that William 
Marshal of whom we have lately spoken. lylywelyn during 
these months stood aloof, but by the autumn appears to have 
decided, for no very obvious reasons, to throw in his lot with 
Richard, who was at least holding his own in the struggle. 
I^lywelyn himself devoted his attention to Brycheiniog. The 
castle of Aberhonddu (Brecon) was laid siege to and missiles 
and engines brought to bear on it to force its surrender. At 
the end of a month's ineffective siege lylywelyn desisted, after 
reducing the town itself to ashes. Having relinquished the 
attack on Brecon Castle, the Welsh leader turned his attention 
to Colunwy town, which he burnt, subjugated the Teme 
valley, burned Trallwng (Welshpool) , proceeded to Red Castle,^ 
which he razed to the ground, and burned the town of Oswestry. 

Soon afterward Richard and I^lywelyn, aided by the Welsh 
chieftains of the south, overran South Wales. Many castles 
were taken, including Cardiff and Abergavenny, but Caer- 
marthen Castle stood firm, and all efforts to capture it failed.! 

1 This is doubtful. See Lloyd's History of Wales, vol. ii, p. 680 n., and 
compare the Brui y Tywysogion under date 1233. 



LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

In the February of the next year Earl Richard left for Ireland 
to oppose the king's forces there. As we know, it was the 
last adventure this man, who, possessing many admirable 
quahties, was unfortunate enough to live in a time when the 
State was ruled by foreign favourites, was destined to embark 
upon. He fell in the April of that year to the dagger of a 
traitor. The effect of his death upon Welsh affairs was not 
important, for more than a month before his death a truce 
had been arranged between Iyl5rwelyn and the English. The 
downfall of Peter des Roches brought with it that of his 
nephew (or son) Peter de Rivaux, who was one of the causes 
of the Welsh discontent, and a treaty of peace was made 
whereby the status quo ante helium was reverted to. 

Llywelyn's Last Years 

It will now be evident to the reader, as it was to both the 
English and Welsh of that time, that lylywelyn was a man 
who could hold his own in any dispute, and who possessed the 
wisdom and statesmanship necessary to gather the fruits of 
his victories and to cover over the traces of his defeats. For 
more than a quarter of a century he had waged intermittent 
but successful war upon his enemies, and in the intervals of 
peace had been regarded as a prince to be respected and 
considered. In a word, Wales had got its " one prince, and 
that a good one," for whom Giraldus sighed. It now remained 
for the world to see whether the successful leader of armies 
knew how to govern.^ 

The year 1237 saw the death of lylyweljm's wife Joan, a 
princess who, apart from the imfortunate event of 1230, had 
nobly supported her husband in his struggle for power, 
lylywelyn, who had forgiven his erring consort after she had 
suffered a short imprisonment, honoured her memory by 
building " the monastery for bare-footed monks ^ called 
lylanvaes in Mona." 

1 It is to be understood that lylywelyn was not de jure Prince of Wales. 
He was Prince of Gwynedd and Mon and custodian of what had been Gwen- 
wynwyn's possessions only, but de facto he controlled the whole of "Wales. 

2 The Franciscans. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

This princess was a very remarkable personality, and it is 
doubtful if full justice has been done to her memory. All the 
world has heard of lylywelyn the Great ; for centuries the 
word ' lylywelyn ' was almost synonymous with ' Welshman.' 
Joan, on the other hand, was soon well-nigh forgotten. Yet 
it is not too much to say that had there been no Joan there 
would have been no lylywelyn the Great. We may, indeed, 
hazard the suggestion that what lylywelyn was in the field 
Joan was in the council-chamber. Even after her lapse from 
fidelity lylywelyn appears to have quickly let her out of prison 
in order to complete the negotiations with Henry which were 
so suddenly, and of necessity, broken off by her incarceration. 
Throughout the years which elapsed between the time when 
the newly wed bride was sent over the mountains of Eryri to 
plead her husband's cause before her father John and this 
very significant enlargement, Joan ever stands out prominently 
as the mediator between Wales and England. Between her 
bargainings for her country she seems frequently to have 
devoted her talents to obtaining concessions for herself, so 
that constantly we find records of grants of manors and 
manorial rights being made to this brilliant daughter of a 
clever but unscrupulous king. Finally, as we have seen, 
she obtained either directly or indirectly a dispensation from 
the Pope removing the stain on her birth. 

The death of the Princess of Aberffraw in a sense complicated 
the question of succession. While she was alive her eldest 
son, David, was unquestioned heir, and as such had been 
recognized some years before. On her death, however, 
Llywelyn's eldest son. Gruff udd,^ not improbably looked 
forward to sharing the rights of succession with his younger 
half-brother. Gruff udd was, of course, according to English 
notions, an illegitimate child ; but with the Welsh birth in 
wedlock counted no more than birth out of wedlock : each 
child was equally the child of his father, quite apart from 
the mother's legal status. Gruffudd, beside these natural 

1 With reference to the spellings ' Gruffwdd ' and ' Gruffydd ' see Preface, 
p. xiii, 

326 




'A 

< 

< 
W 
« 

o 
w 






LLYWELYN THE GREAT 

claims, had an independent and fiery spirit, which advanced 
him in popular favour and strengthened his position con- 
siderably. Consequently, in the year following Joan's death 
we find lylywelyn calling all the princes of Wales to Strata 
Florida to swear fidelity to his son David, thus confirming the 
recognition of David's title made by the Welsh in 1226. At 
the same time all Gruff udd's lands were taken from him, 
save only lyleyn, and transferred to the younger brother. 
There were certainly excellent reasons for this policy. David 
alone had any chance of being recognized by either the English 
or the Pope.^ He alone could expect favourable treatment 
from the English king, and that on account of his relationship 
to the English royal house. Moreover, it must have been 
evident to lylywelyn that Gruffudd, with his fiery Welsh 
temper, lacked that balance and cool-headedness which were 
necessary if any prince was to hold the strings of power which 
Llywelyn had so laboriously gathered together. lylywelyn also 
had to guard against a division of power after his death, a 
division which would have brought down the structure he had 
raised like a pack of cards, a division like those which in the 
past had proved well-nigh the ruin of Wales. It was there- 
fore not merely a case of favouring one son at the expense of 
another ; it was a question of choosing one sole heir to the 
whole of his dominion to the complete exclusion of the other. 
It was a case of deciding the succession of a crown rather than 
the inheritance of land. 

I/lywelyn himself was now an old man for those times. His 
last years saw him the sufferer from a paralytic seizure, but 
his mind remained clear, and when he died in 1240 he was 
still at the height of his power. The chronicler who writes 
in the Brut found it impossible to describe his hero's manifold 
virtues ; he speaks of him as " a man whose good works it 
would be difficult to enumerate." The Annates Camhriae 
refers to him as a second Achilles. Poet after poet exhausts 
the vocabulary of rhetoric in describing his manifold virtues. 

1 It will be remembered that the English recognized him as heir in 1220 ; 
the Pope in 1222. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Perhaps the words of Dafydd Benfras ^ express the feelings of 
these bards as well as any, for he sings : 

Had I the skill of a wizard 

In the primitive, eloquent bardic strain, 

I could not for the Ufe of me paint his prowess 

in battle. 
Nor could Tahesin. 

lylywelyn was, indeed, the prince of Welsh princes. Not 
only was he great as a soldier, but also as a diplomat, not only 
as a statesman, but also as a benefactor of religion, as a patron 
of learning and of poetry, as a lawgiver and administrator. 
In his times Wales came near to becoming completely inde- 
pendent. He truly was Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of the 
mountains of Kryri. In his time the poets burst into song, 
literature flourished, and religion was respected. Thus was 
the wisdom of that saying of Giraldus proved : " Happy and 
fortunate indeed would this nation be, nay, completely 
blessed, if it had good prelates and pastors, and but one 
prince, and that prince a good one." 

1 We quote from Professor I^loyd's History of Wales, vol. ii, p. 691. 



328 



^Hfti 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE DOWNFALL 

WITH the death of Llywelyn the Great the position 
in Wales was for a time substantially altered. 
Ivlywelyn, by the force of his personality, aided by 
the support of his wife and her relationship on the sinister side 
to the English Crown, together with circumstances peculiarly 
favourable for the existence and continuance of Welsh inde- 
pendence, had raised himself to a position higher than that 
occupied by any Welsh prince since the Normans had obtained 
a firm footing in the marcher districts. With his death the 
firm hand was removed. Shortly before his death, as we have 
seen, Joan, his wife, had also died. England, though still 
weak, was slowly recovering from the discontent induced by 
John's wretched defiance of law, of the nobles, the people, and 
the Pope. Times were changed, and even had a great man 
succeeded I^lywelyn ap lorwerth he would, indeed, have had 
a difficult task before him had he determined to assert the 
right to maintain the position his predecessor had attained. 

David, whom, as we have seen, Llywelyn had chosen as his 
successor, and who had been accepted as such by the princes 
of Wales even in his father's lifetime, showed during his brief 
career many admirable qualities, which, had times been more 
favourable, might have enabled him to govern Wales with 
honour, if not with glory. But, as we have said, times were 
changed, and, moreover, he had the misfortune to have brothers. 

The history of Wales shows us nothing so strongly or so 
frequently as the misfortune of joint claimants to a throne. 
I^lywelyn had seen quite clearly that unless unusual steps 
were taken to secure to David the sole and undivided allegiance 

329 



HISTORY OF WALES 

of Wales the State would be split up, as had so frequently- 
happened before, Wales would be weakened, its polity would 
become incoherent, and it would fall a simple prey to England. 

Even before Llywelyn's death David and his brother 
Gruffudd had been at feud. The aged prince had, however, 
succeeded in keeping them apart ; the princes of Wales had 
sworn fealty to David at Strata Florida, the support of the 
Church had been enlisted on his behalf. David, seconding his 
father's efforts, had imprisoned Gruffudd, and so when the 
time came to step into his father's place it appeared as though 
he had cause to fear no rivals. 

Unfortunately for David, he was to learn that an imprisoned 
prince is almost as potent for mischief as a free one. More- 
over, the other Welsh princes, and in particular Gruffydd ap 
Gwenwynwyn, although prepared to acknowledge the pre- 
eminence of lylywelyn, and even, at his behest, swear fealty to 
his son, were by no means eager to follow the untried and 
comparatively youthful David. The result, as we shall see, 
was that David was placed in a difficult, it maj'' even be said 
in an impossible, position. 

At first the steps he took were prudent. He attended the 
council at Gloucester and did homage for Gwynedd. Not- 
withstanding this ready acknowledgment of Henry as his 
overlord, England was by no means prepared to allow him to I j 
occupy his father's position. That prince had, as we have 
seen, obtained power over the whole of Powys — although 
rather as custodian of lands forfeited to England than as 
conqueror ; however, he had been too strong to make it 
desirable or possible to wrest them from him. Now it was 
otherwise. Gwenwynwyn' s heir was clamouring for his lands ; 
Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, was already taking steps to recover 
Ceredigion ; the lords of Montalt demanded the return of 
Mold ; the Welsh in the south were also asserting themselves. 
David, almost isolated as he was and weakened by the rival 
claims of his brother, temporized, then proposed arbitration. 
The offer was accepted, and David, after further procrastina- 
tion and delay, was cited to appear at Shrewsbury. He 



THE DOWNFALL 

defaulted, as he did on the second occasion, when the arbitra- 
tion was fixed to take place at Montford. 

The result of David's evasions of these attempts to have 
the matter settled amicably — evasions doubtless prompted by 
the knowledge that the result was a foregone conclusion — 
brought down the wrath of the king upon him. 

It was in the autumn of 1241 that Henry assembled an 
army and, in the words of the chronicler, " came to subdue 
the princes of Wales." The campaign was completely suc- 
cessful. In less than a month the English, favoured by fine 
weather, had David at their feet. As the Brut tells us, the 
result was that Henry " took hostages from David, his nephew, 
on account of Gwynedd, that David should pay to Gruffydd 
ap Gwenwynwyn his whole claim to Powys, and to the sons 
of Maredudd ap Cynan their whole claim in Meirionydd. 
And he cited David to lyondon before the council, and he was 
to bring with him his brother Gruffudd, and all the prisoners 
that were with him in the prison of the king, to London." 

In the meanwhile Gilbert of Pembroke had taken the law 
into his own hands. Cardigan Castle had been restored and 
the foundations laid for the renewal of English authority in 
south-western Wales. The earl himself had been removed by 
a wound from the scene of action, but the result was merely 
to enable the king to take his place and obtain control of that 
part of Wales. In 1242 we find John of Monmouth occupying 
and strengthening Builth and Menevia, while Maelgwn the 
Little seized Garthgrugyn, and Roger Mortimer took possession 
of Maelienydd. 

Thus in less than three years David had been reduced to 
the position of a tribal chieftain. Even in this position he 
was not secure. Henry, by obtaining the custody of his rival 
Gruffudd (whom he had placed in the Tower of London), had 
made a clever move. It was now possible for him to reduce 
David to the position of a chieftain battling for his chieftaincy 
by putting Gruffudd against him and by giving to the rival 
the royal support. Henry, however, was soon to lose this 
lever. In 1244 Gruffudd, weary of his long imprisonment, 

331 



HISTORY OF WALES 

made a daring attempt to escape. Fashioning a rope out of 
sheets and cloths, he endeavoured to climb down it from 
a window in the tower in which he was imprisoned. But the 
rope broke before he had got very far, and falling heavily 
from a considerable height, he broke his neck. David, on 
hearing of his brother's death, determined to avenge one 
whom in life he had hated. ^ As the Chronicle of the Princes 
tells us, " David became enraged, and summoned all his good 
men to him and attacked his foes, and drove them from all 
their borders" — ^the chronicler significantly adds, "except 
such as were in castles." David next sent to all the Welsh 
princes claiming their aid. There was a considerable response, 
though the Powysian princes and Morgan ap Howel hung 
back. These, we are informed, David attacked and compelled 
to make submission. 

David now began to show the qualities of a leader of men. 
Not content merely with gathering the Welsh chieftains round 
him, he looked for help from higher quarters. The Pope's aid 
was sought, and for the moment was obtained. David, mean- 
while, taking advantage of Henry's Scottish troubles, seems 
to have ravaged the border counties, and although at first 
Henry treated the movement as a matter of small moment, it 
soon became apparent that the king's presence was necessary 
in order that peace might be restored. 

We have now reached the year 1245. The earlier months 
had been occupied in unimportant struggles between the 
English and Welsh — struggles which had favoured sometimes 
the one side, sometimes the other. At last, however, after 
the loss of Mold Henry determined to act, and, assembling the 
English forces and calling upon the Irish to lend support, he 
marched on Wales, intending its conquest. Deganwy was his 
objective. He was at Chester by August 13, and had reached 
Deganwy by the 26th. Here he remained until the end of 
October, busying himself with castle-building. Little further 

^ Professor I,loyd suggests, doubtless correctly, that David's renewed 
activity vpas due less to his belated brotherly regard than to the fact that, 
now his rival was removed, he was free to act. 



THE DOWNFALL 

was done, and, in the words of the Brut, " after fortifying the 
castle, and leaving knights in it, he returned to England, 
having left an immense number of his army dead and unburied, 
some having been slain and others drowned." In truth the 
expedition had been little more than a failure. Henry, it is 
true, had strengthened Deganwy, but he had lost many 
men, the Welsh having constantly harassed his forces and 
having skirmished and attacked by day and night with the 
utmost bravery. His army had also suffered severely from 
exposure. Food was almost unprocurable, and the weather 
was harsh. Matthew Paris has much to say of the hardships 
thus endured. The fear of raids, want of food and proper 
clothes and shelter made the English pray for a quick and 
safe retreat. Henry on his return revenged himself for his 
failure by forbidding all trade in corn, salt, iron, steel, or 
cloth with Wales. 

David's Death. Rise of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd 

It was early in the year following that David died, leaving 
no heir to follow him. At once a dispute arose over the 
succession. The two chief claimants were Owain the Red 
and Ivlywelyn, the eldest and second son of Gruffudd ap 
lylywelyn Fawr respectively. These two brothers eventually 
decided, " by the advice of good men," to settle their differ- 
ences and divide the inheritance. 

The times were certainly not suited to disputes between the 
Gwyneddians themselves. The English were still threatening. 
Henry had sent Nicholas de Myles, or Meules, justice of Caer- 
marthen, who had joined with Maredudd ap Rhys and 
Maredudd ap Owain to dispossess Maelgwn of Deheubarth. 
This chieftain had been compelled to fly to Gwynedd and to 
throw himself on the protection of Owain and lylywelyn. 
Nicholas followed them, leading his army farther north even 
than the Dovey. Meanwhile the Earl of Clare was making 
his power felt in the south. It was, indeed, a time of power- 
lessness for Wales. The Welsh princes were driven both 
in the north and the south to the mountains, where they 

333 



HISTORY OF WALES 

hid their weakness behind the natural strength of their 
country. 

At last a truce was patched up through John de Gray, the 
new justice of Cheshire, and in April 1247 peace was made 
between the Welsh leaders and the king at Woodstock. 

The peace then formed was, when judged by the ordinary 
Welsh standards, a lengthy one. It lasted, indeed, for eight 
years and some months. During that time Owain and 
lyljrwelyn were, by the terms of the treaty, reduced to the 
position of chieftains of Gwynedd, using that word in the 
lesser sense. 

The years pass by uneventfully until we reach 1255. In 
that year, according to the chronicler, " by the instigation of 
the devil, a great discussion was engendered between . . . 
Owain the Red and David on the one side and lylywelyn on 
the other." The result of this inter-family feud was a victory 
for I^lywelyn at Bryn Derwin, the flight of David (a younger 
brother), and the capture of Owain, who was promptly thrown 
into prison. Llywelyn was thus enabled to claim the leader- 
ship of all the Gwyneddians. 

It was in the year following that the first steps were taken 
which resulted in the Welsh rising under I^lywelyn. Edward, 
Earl of Chester, destined in future years to become the con- 
queror of Wales and one of England's great kings, came to 
Wales to take a general view of the state of the royal castles 
and demesnes in the north. The Welsh had anticipated 
some improvement in their position as a result of the princely 
visit. Geoffrey I^angley, who had been given control of a 
large part of mid- Wales, had by his harsh conduct caused 
much discontent. The Welsh chieftains had been treated 
with scant respect, and they probably hoped for a redress of 
grievances from Edward. He came, he reviewed his castles, 
he saw that they were adequately garrisoned, he enjoyed 
himself with his boon companions — and returned, leaving the 
Welsh nobles utterly neglected and with their troubles un- 
relieved. The national character, quick to take an insult, 
ready on the instant to fly into a passion, asserted itself. 

334 



THE DOWNFALL 

According to the Brut, " The nobles of Wales came to lylywelyn, 
son of Gmffudd, having been robbed of their Hberty, and 
made captives, and complainingly declared to him that they 
would rather be killed in war for their liberty than suffer 
themselves to be trodden down by strangers in bondage." 
" I^lywelyn," we are informed, " was moved to tears." 
Readily acceding to the demand for revenge, he combined with 
Maredudd ap Rhys Gryc, invaded the midland country, and 
within a week succeeded in making himself master of it. 
Meirionydd was seized, and that part of Ceredigion possessed 
by Edward was assigned by the Welsh leader to Maredudd 
ap Owain, great-grandson of the Lord Rhys, to whom was 
also given Builth. His ally, Maredudd ap Rhys Gryc, was 
established once again in Deheubarth. So far Llywelyn 
himself had gained little except " fame and regard," but 
later he succeeded in wresting Gwerthrynion from Roger 
Mortimer, which acquisition he kept for himself. 

The two Maredudds and Llywelyn were again active in 
the year following. This time the territory of Gruffydd ap 
Gwenwynwyn, a chieftain who, following the practice of his 
house, had adhered rather to the king than to the Welsh 
leaders, was the objective. Powys was overrun. The allies 
penetrated as far as the Severn valley. Welshpool was burnt, 
Bydydon (Bodyddon) Castle was destroyed. Indeed, little 
escaped the onslaught of I^lywelyn and his supporters save part 
of the vale of Severn and a portion of Caereinion — the centre 
of Gruffydd's strength. Trallwng Castle,^ however, held out. 

It was in the June of this year that the next event of 
importance took place. Rhys Vychan had sought EngUsh aid 
to regain his rights. Supported by Bauzan, a royal officer, 
and a considerable force, Rhys prepared to attack Dynevor. 
The two Maredudds were, however, well posted around the 
town and prepared to prevent any further advance. After a 
few skirmishes the opposing parties were ready to come to 
blows, when Rhys forsook his English ally. The Welsh 
attacked, Bauzan's forces broke and fled. They were pursued, 

1 Pool Castle. 

335 



HISTORY OF WALES 

brought to bay, and completely defeated at a battle fought at 
Cymerau.^ 

The Welsh party were now in the ascendant. The deserter, 
Rhys, had joined lylywelyn and his alUes. Castle after castle 
fell before them. Cemais was subdued ; with the aid of 
Rhys, Trevdraeth ^ was attacked and its castle destroyed ; 
Rhos was raided and the country ravaged as far as Haverford ; 
Glamorgan was invaded and the castle of I^lan Geneu (or 
lylangynwyd) burnt. The chronicler adds that after these 
many victories " they returned home, having killed many 
and captured others." 

The English Government had not ignored these revolts and 
reverses. After the defeat of Bauzan at Cymerau steps had 
been taken to raise an army for the subjugation of lylywelyn 
and his allies. By August Henry had got together a consider- 
able force, which he led in person to Deganwy, where he 
remained, effecting little, until September. Irish aid had 
been looked for, but it did not come, and the king appears 
to have suddenly abandoned all further effort to check 
lylywelyn, and shortly afterward retired on Chester, harassed 
all the way by the Welsh, who, as was their custom, contented 
themselves with cutting off stragglers. 

Another Welsh chieftain now hurried to the victorious 
lylywelyn. Gruffydd ap Madog, of the princely house of 
Powys, became reconciled to the chieftain of Gwynedd, despite 
the fact that his kinsman, Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, was 
still at enmity with lylywelyn. lylywelyn was now almost as 
powerful as his grandfather. Gwenwynwyn's son soon felt 
his power, and, being too weak to resist, was driven into 
banishment. 

Llywelyn Prince of Wales 

The years which followed saw lylywelyn the admitted leader 
of the Welsh people. In 1258 the Welsh chieftains took an 
oath of fidelity to him under pain of excommunication, and 

^ See as to this Lloyd's History of Wales, vol. ii, p. 720, n. 23, 
2 Trevdraeth = Newport. 



n 



THE DOWNFALL 

he is found from now onward adopting the style and title 
of ' Prince of Wales.' This solemn oath had established 
Llywelyn as leader of his countrymen, it had consolidated his 
power, but it was not strong enough to prevent Maredudd ap 
Rhys attempting to gain a personal advantage at the price of 
his honour. He had been one of the nobles to take the oath, 
but he quickly broke it and passed over to the English side, 
lylywelyn now showed himself as ready to punish faithlessness 
as in earlier years he had been to support loyalty. Maredudd's 
lands were invaded and ravaged, he himself was attacked and 
severely wounded, and in the year following accused of treason, 
condemned, and imprisoned. 

The years which followed were comparatively uneventful. 
In 1258 lylywelyn had effected a protective alliance with the 
Scots ; in 1259 ^ truce was patched up with the English. In 
1260 a determined attack was made upon Builth, and Roger 
Mortimer was driven back on his castle there, the rest of 
that district being occupied by the Welsh. Fresh successes 
brought fresh support, and Owain ap Maredudd of Elvael, 
who had previously stood aloof from the national party, now 
threw in his lot with theirs. I^ater in 1260 Builth Castle fell 
through treachery, and Roger Mortimer had to be content to 
see one of his newest strongholds burnt to the ground. The 
result of this success was the addition of the men of Maelienydd 
to I^lywelyn's imposing list of supporters. 

It was not until 1263 that any further attack of moment 
was made by the Welsh. The English, for their part, were 
too much occupied with the struggle between the king and 
his barons, which in 1264 was to result in the battle of Lewes, 
to take any steps to recover from I^lywelyn the gains he had 
obtained. In less than twenty years the Welsh leader had 
raised himself from the position of a joint sharer of a petty 
chieftaincy to that of acknowledged Prince of Wales. The 
English king had made several abortive attempts to reduce 
him to submission. English and Welsh nobles had felt his 
power. He had attained this position largely by reason of 
his own personality, partly in consequence of the weakness of 

Y 337 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the Knglisli king. How much of his success was due to his 
personal qualities is shown by the letter written by Henry on 
hearing a rumour of lylywelyn's death. Everything appears 
to have been thought of for a thorough absorption of Wales. 
But I/lywelyn was not dead, and while he lived no steps were 
taken to carry out the complicated plan. 

The Welsh leader was strangely quiet during the years 
1261-1262. Of course there was the truce, but truces easily 
gave way before opportunity, and England was singularly 
weak during those years. In 1260 Edward had for a short 
time joined forces with Simon de Montfort against his father ; 
I/cicester had been charged with treason. In 1261 Henry had 
appealed to the Pope, and a bull issued releasing Henry from 
his promises and allowing him to annul the Provisions of 
Oxford. As a result the barons were once more united 
against their king. The bull being rendered valueless for the 
time being by the death of the Pope (Alexander IV), some 
semblance of peace was patched up in the winter of 1261, but 
a new bull was granted by Urban IV early in 1262, confirming 
the earlier one. Montfort returned from the Continent (where 
he had been since the autumn of 1261) and rallied the baronial 
party. By January 1263 the pressure on the king had become 
so great that he was compelled to confirm the Provisions. 

It was during this anxious time for England that Wales 
chose to be so curiously peaceful. It is true that toward the 
end of 1262 a raid was made on Maelienydd, and Roger , 
Mortimer's castle of Cefnllys was attacked and Humphrey de | 
Bohun's relieving force defeated. Roger himself was brought 
to his knees, but was treated magnanimously by his kinsman 
lylywelyn, being allowed to depart without injury on promise 
of crossing the border. The movement, however, was isolated 
and comparatively unimportant. 

While the Welsh refrained from attacking the English, 
Prince Edward, who had been granted large estates in North 
Wales, had also taken little interest in his Welsh possessions, 
and had made practically no attempt to gain in fact what 
was his, from the English point of view, by law. Early in 

338 



THE DOWNFALL 

1263, it is true, he led a force to the relief of Diserth and 
Deganwy, but he was soon recalled. The English desire for 
peace can, of course, be readily understood : England itself 
was on the very brink of civil war ; but there must have 
been some good reason for I^lywelyn's attitude. It may be 
that he was ill ; it is more probable that he was in conflict with 
his brother David. We find that in 1263 David had quarrelled 
openly with his brother and crossed the border into England 
with his adherents, completely abandoning the Welsh party 
for the king. There is another explanation of Llywelyn's 
peaceful policy. It is not improbable that he took advantage 
of the conflict between king and barons to consolidate his own 
position rather than to weaken his opponent's. As a result 
of his management of public affairs he was so strong that 
when David rose against him — probably at the instigation 
of Edward — he replied by overrunning north-eastern Wales 
even to the gates of Chester, and Diserth and Deganwy were 
forced to surrender. 

It is generally accepted that during this campaign the 
Welsh were acting, if not in alliance with, at least with the 
approval of, the barons as against the royal party. The 
capitulation and destruction of Diserth and Deganwy had 
been a severe loss to Edward, and he took steps to cause a 
breach in the ranks of the barons and their Welsh supporters. 
In 1264, however, de Montfort was clearly in alhance with 
I/lywelyn, The Mortimer ^ and Bohun lands were ravaged 
and their castles taken. In the meantime Gruffydd ap 
Gwenwynwyn of Powys, who until now had been antagonistic 
to I/lywelyn, acknowledged him as overlord, and by 1264 the 
chronicler could rightly call lylywelyn Prince of all Wales. 
I^ater in that year, and after de Montfort's victory at I^ewes, 
lylywelyn rendered valuable aid to the great Earl Simon by 
harassing the marcher lords who still held out for the Idng. 
As the price of his support I/lywelyn had extracted generous 
terms from de Montfort — terms which were vastly improved 
upon at the conference at Pipton in June. I/lywelyn was 

^ Mortimer had recently deserted the popular party. 

339 



HISTORY OF WALES 

recognized as Prince of Wales and overlord of all the Welsh 
chieftains. All the territory taken from Ivlywelyn the Great 
or his successors was restored, and Pain's Castle, Plawarden, 
and Whittington were expressly granted to the Welsh leader, 
lylywelyn was to render the aid of an ally, and was to pay 
30,000 marks. 

lylywelyn was now at the very height of his power. What 
his position would have been had de Montfort succeeded in 
his struggle against the royal power it is impossible to say. 
As we know, Karl Simon was even at this time hard pressed. 
Bdward had escaped in May, Gloucester had defected from 
de Montf ort's side, the marchers were assembling a formidable 
force in support of Edward. The struggle came suddenly to 
an end in August, when at Evesham Edward was completely 
victorious and de Montfort was slain. 

The fall of de Montfort was a blow to lylywelyn, who had 
adventured something in his cause. But Edward was still by 
no means free to devote his attention to the Welsh. The de 
Montfort party was still a force to be reckoned with though 
the great Earl of I/cicester was dead. Chester, however, was ■ 
reoccupied, and Cheshire freed from the Welsh. On the 
other hand, I/lywelyn gained some small successes, and on the 
whole maintained his position. Finally, in 1267 peace was 
arranged between Henry and Ivlywelyn through the mediation 
of Octobonus (Ottobon), the papal legate, and the Treaty of 
Montgomery was signed.^ 

This peace was a signal triumph for the Welsh leader. He 
was confirmed in his title of Prince of Wales ; he was regarded 
as the overlord of the Welsh chieftains, with the exception of 
Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn and Maredudd ap Rhys. He was 
also granted the four cantrefs previously held by Prince 
Edward, together with many castles lately held or claimed by 

1 Ottobon met Llywelyn's ambassadors at Shrewsbury, and the treaty 
of peace was signed there on September 25. This peace is sometimes referred 
to as the Treaty of Shrewsbury. It was not ratified by Ivlywelyn, how- 
ever, until Michaehnas Day, when that prince met Henry at Montgomery, 
rendered homage, and formally made peace. We call it, therefore, as is 
customary in works on Welsh history, the Treaty or Peace of Montgomery. 

34^ 



THE DOWNFALL 

the English. In return for these very great concessions 
Llywelyn was only required to sign the treaty of peace and 
to promise a sum of 25,000 marks, which was made payable 
by instalments. 

The terms of the treaty show lylywelyn's strength. They 
show still more clearly England's weakness. Edward evidently 
found it necessary to purchase peace at any price. His 
country was completely exhausted by the struggles of the 
preceding years. In the early part of the year Gilbert, Earl 
of Gloucester, with Welsh aid, had marched upon London 
and had been well received, and Ottobon had been captured. 
Gloucester, it is true, had eventually submitted, and I^lywelyn 
was isolated from any powerful English ally, but the royal 
party was still fearful of further risings, and peace was essential 
for the consolidation of its forces. Even so, however, it is 
greatly to the credit of the Welsh leader that Ottobon found 
it possible to congratulate himself upon such a peace. It left 
lylywelyn virtually an independent Prince of Wales, owning 
but a technical feudal overlordship in the king. From the 
Welsh point of view the terms were as good as, or better 
than, those offered by de Montfort at Pipton. 

From the Peace of Montgomery to the 
Edwardian Conquest 

For the next ten years Wales was at peace. During those 
years many of the participators in the earlier struggles passed 
from the stage of history. Anian, Bishop of St. Asaph, and 
Richard, Bishop of Bangor, died in 1266 and 1267 respectively. 
Maredudd ap Owain had already been buried at Strata Florida 
when Gruffydd ap Madog of northern Powys (Maelor), once 
the friend of England, but in his later years the ally of I^lywelyn, 
left his fortress of Dinas Bran for his final resting-place in 
Valle Crucis.^ Howel and Madog, Gruffydd's brothers, pass 
from the scene about the same time. Maredudd ap Rhys, 
whose friendship with England in the later years of his life 
had carried him from the side of I^lywelyn and the national 
^ He died in 1269. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

party — a piece of faithlessness which made it necessary for 
the BngHsh to put a special clause in the Treaty of Mont- 
gomery for his protection — died two years later. Rhys 
Vychan of Deheubarth and Maredudd ap Howel of the chieftains 
of Gwynllwg are lesser names which are now lost sight of. 

But though death had been busy in the ranks of his friends 
and his enemies, it left untouched lylywelyn's own family. 
Unmarried, he possessed no descendants of his own, but of 
brothers he had several, and each of them was a source of 
perpetual trouble and anxiety to him. His eldest brother, 
Owain Goch, had long been kept in captivity. A younger one, 
Rhodri, had also been imprisoned, but eventually succeeded 
(about 1272) in escaping to England. David, the youngest 
brother, who had already shown a capacity for treachery, had 
been especially protected by the Treaty of Montgomery. He 
took advantage of his freedom to enter into a conspiracy 
with Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, his wife and son Owain, to 
assassinate I^lywelyn. The evil plot was perfected in 1274. 
David's daughter was to marry Owain, David was to become 
Prince of Wales, the house of Powys was to gain Kerry and 
Cydewain. The plot was discovered. David fled to England ; 
messengers were sent to Gruffydd at Pool to demand an 
explanation. Gruffydd, after at first entertaining them 
lavishly, flung the messengers into prison, ordered the castle 
to be defended, and with his family and chattels escaped to 
Shrewsbury. I^lywelyn quickly avenged the wrong done to his 
envoys. Pool Castle was attacked and destroyed ; Gruffydd's 
lands were occupied without opposition and reduced to 
possession. 

Two years before this sign of weakness in Wales Henry III 
of England had died. He had been succeeded by his son, 
Edward I, who possessed qualities peculiarly suitable for the , 
conquest of Wales. Determined, clear-headed, equally admir- |l 
able at the council-board as in battle, Edward had also con- 
siderable experience with Welsh affairs. He had learnt that - 
compared with their valour in the hills the Welsh were tame 11 
fighters in the lowlands. He knew from experience how a 
342 



THE DOWNFALL 

strong castle was more valuable than many men in a country 
which could not be subdued in a moment, and which did not 
yield enough produce to feed an army for a month. It was 
in the August of 1274 that this destined conqueror of Wales 
was crowned. To the coronation were summoned Alexander 
of Scotland and I^lywelyn of Wales, both to do homage. The 
former responded, the latter did not. 

The reason for the refusal is not obvious. During Henry's 
lifetime the terms of the Treaty of Montgomery had been 
faithfully kept. Even in 1273 lylywelyn was on friendly 
terms with the EngHsh, though two years before he had 
been launching a second attack upon Gilbert of Gloucester's 
partially built castle of Caerphilly. But after Henry's death 
there commences to be trouble over the money payments re- 
quired by the treaty ; lylywelyn refused to do homage ; the two 
leaders were slowly drifting to a conflict. The matter came to 
a head with Ivlywelyn's refusal to appear at Edward's coronation 
and with Edward's friendly reception of David and Gruffydd, 
who, as we have seen, had fled from Wales on the plot they had 
hatched against I^lywelyn's life being discovered. It would 
appear, indeed, that Llywelyn's refusal was due to his fear 
that a king who could receive his would-be assassins could 
also take his life. This at least is the main reason given by 
him in his letter to the Pope. 

There was another fact which determined Llywelyn to 
prepare to fight. He saw that war with England was almost 
unavoidable. He also saw that to meet such an enemy 
without allies or supporters would inevitably result in defeat. 
The Welsh leader seems, therefore, to have decided to carry 
on the de Montfort tradition, ally himself with that house, 
and make a bid for the support of the more discontented 
section of the English baronage. The movement was naturally 
regarded with some concern by Edward, for, although the 
baronial trouble was dying down, England, as we have said, 
needed peace. The king accordingly took steps to thwart 
lylywelyn's purpose. Eleanor, daughter to Earl Simon, whose 
hand had been promised to Llywelyn as far back as 1265, set 

343 



HISTORY OF WALES 

out for Wales from France under the escort of her brother, 
Amaury, in 1275. The purpose of her visit was, of course, 
her intended marriage with lylywelyn. Edward, however, 
had no mind to permit this union, and intercepted Eleanor 
and her brother while yet on the sea. lylywelyn's wished-for 
bride was detained at the queen's court ; Amaury was 
imprisoned in Corfe Castle. 

It is evident that at that time lylywelyn did not feel himself 
strong enough to resist Edward, for even with his bride captured 
and virtually imprisoned he refrained from any acts of war. 
The year 1276 passed by without hostilities having com- 
menced, though I/lywelyn's continued refusal to do homage 
save under impossible conditions had driven Edward to call a 
council of war in the November of that year. At that council 
it was decided to bring lylywelyn to submission, and levies 
were summoned for the summer of 1277. Roger Mortimer 
was sent to Montgomery, Warwick to Chester, and Pain of 
Chaworth to Caermarthen. The marcher lords were also 
required to raise their tenants to aid the king. 

The essential weakness of I/lywelyn's position was now 
made evident. It became apparent that for many years a 
process of absorption had been going on. No longer were 
Welshman and Norman utterly alien or bitterly hostile. No 
longer on the threatening advance of an English army did the 
Welsh ranks close up to unite in one solid body to withstand 
their common enemy. Now the men of the middle march 
welcomed Mortimer ; Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn sided with 
the marchers against Llywelyn, and was restored to Upper 
Powys. The men of Bromfield, Elvael, lylandovery, Brecon, 
and Dynevor passed over to the king's side. Pain of Chaworth 
reduced Ceredigion to submission without any serious engage- 
ment being fought. 

The dying down of racial hatred and the continuance of 
tribal jealousies had thus resulted in a few months in the 
reduction of lylywelyn from the position of Prince of Wales 
to that of chieftain of Gwynedd, and by this time the levies 
summoned in the previous November had mustered at 

344 




Pi,ATE XIJX. Queen Ei,Eanor's Chamber, Conway Casti<e 

Photo Owen Evans, Conway 344 



THE DOWNFALL 

Worcester, Nearly a thousand lances followed Edward to 
Chester, which was made the base of operations. 

Edward's plan of campaign seems to have been to shut 
lylywelyn up in his mountain fastnesses and to starve him 
into submission. In pursuance of this objective he pushed on 
in the mountainous district of Eryri, following the northern 
coast route, clearing forests away as he went to prevent his 
men being picked off by the Welsh bowmen, and having his 
main force protected from hostile attack by the fleet from 
the Cinque Ports, which sailed close in to the coast. By 
the end of August Deganwy had been reached, and the line 
of communication protected by forts built at Flint and 
Rhuddlan. Meanwhile the king's forces had been considerably 
augmented, and now numbered not less than 16,000 soldiers, 
besides numerous sappers and miners. The army once safe 
in Deganwy, the fleet was dispatched to Anglesey to prevent 
supplies of corn being sent from there to Ivlywelyn, now at 
bay in Eryri. The movement was successful, and the crops 
of Mon were gathered to feed English soldiers. Meanwhile 
Ivlywel}^ and his men were threatened with starvation, and 
realizing that the position was hopeless, the prince submitted 
on the 9th of November. 

The Treaty of Conway, or Aberconway 

As a result of his submission lylywelyn was compelled to 
accept the rigorous terms of the Treaty of Conway. By it he 
surrendered the whole of South and Central Wales, and also 
the country between Conway and the Dee. His title of prince 
had gone, his overlordship had gone, and he was reduced once 
more to the position of chief of Gwynedd above Conway and 
lord of some minor nobles, including Rhys Vychan. His 
brother Owain he was forced to release and establish in lyleyn, 
and David was made lord of Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd, and 
Hope. lylywelyn was also required to pay a yearly rent for 
his holding, and a heavy war indemnity. These last two 
provisions were, however, remitted after he had made his 
formal submission at Rhuddlan. 

345 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Edward seems now to have extended his policy of con- 
ciliation even to his late enemy. Although he compelled 
lylywelyn's attendance at the Christmas court at Westminster, 
he consented in the year following to the solemnization of the 
marriage between I^lywelyn and Eleanor, a marriage which 
took place at Winchester, Edward, according to the Brut, 
" bearing the cost of the banquet and nuptial festivities 
liberally." But though his policy as regards I^lywelyn would 
have made for peace, his desire to introduce the English shire 
system into Wales sowed the seeds of future conflict. Welsh 
law was banished from the marcher courts, Welsh customs 
were treated as of no worth or force. The shire organization 
of Ceredigion, or Cardiganshire, and Caermarthenshire was 
revived. Royal officials were sprinkled all over Wales, and, 
like most such, used their brief authority to grind down the 
people over whom they had power. The result was dis- 
content, a quiet anger which smouldered on for more than 
four years, and then, on March 21, 1282, burst into flame. 

The Rising of 1282 

The fatal David was the first to rise in rebellion. It may 
be that he had hoped for more than Edward had cared to 
give him. Whatever the cause, we find him on the day before 
Palm Sunday attacking Hawarden Castle, which soon yielded. 
His action was the signal for a general rising. The men of 
the south attacked Carreg Cennen, Aberystwyth, and I^lan- 
dovery Castles ; lylywelyn, eagerly throwing in his lot with his 
countrymen, crossed the Conway and directed an unsuccessful 
attack upon the royal strongholds at Flint and Rhuddlan. 

Edward quickly took action. I/Cvies were summoned, and 
Gilbert of Gloucester was ordered to reconquer the Vale of 
Towy. On June 16 or 17 the earl's men were attacked, 
however, at lylandeilo Eawr and defeated, Gloucester being 
driven back on Caermarthen. In the meantime lylywelyn was 
hurrying south from the north, and succeeded in keeping in 
check the English forces under William of Valence, whp had 
succeeded Gilbert of Gloucester. 



THE DOWNFALL 

Bdward, ^meanwhile, had reached Rhuddlan, at which place 
he remained, fearing to risk an attack upon Gwynedd while 
David (who was posted at Denbigh) threatened his flanks. 
At last, however, David was dislodged by the Earl of I^incoln, 
and about the same time Reginald Grey obtained control of 
Ruthin, and Karl Warenne seized Bromfield and Yale. 
Llywelyn had now returned to Eryri, where he had been 
joined by David. It was against Snowdonia, therefore, that 
Edward now directed his army. 

It had early been seen by Edward, who had the memories 
of the 1277 campaign fresh in his mind, that it was necessary 
to gain control of Anglesey and its corn. In pursuance of this 
purpose lyuke de Tany, Seneschal of Gascony, had been sent 
to conquer Mon with a few of the men of Aquitaine. The 
expedition was at first successful, and by September Anglesey 
was under his control, and communication was established with 
the mainland by means of a pontoon. It would seem that 
about November 6 Tany made some sort of attempt to attack 
Llywelyn's main army. The Welsh, however, easily over- 
whelmed th^ Frenchman's small force, and drove them back 
to their slender bridge of boats, which, giving way before 
the rush of the panic-stricken men, precipitated many into 
the water, including their leader, who was drowned. 

It was shortly after this that Peckham's ill-conceived 
attempt at mediation was made. Xlywelyn was offered an 
English estate of the value of £1000 a year in exchange for 
his claims to Welsh soil. The overture was not accepted, and 
the struggle continued. 

A position of stalemate had now practically been reached. 
The king had maintained the war for a length of time for 
which feudal levies were unfitted, and most of his English 
soldiers had returned to their homes. He was desperately in 
need of money, and only a fixed determination to bring Wales 
finally to submission could have persuaded him to continue 
the campaign over the winter. lylywelyn, on the other hand, 
was safe in Snowdon's fastnesses. But, though safe, he was 
quite impotent. With the south by no means closed to him, 

347 



HISTORY OF WALES 

he was not threatened with starvation as in 1277, but on the 
other hand he could strike no effective blow against Edward. 

It was at this juncture that lylywelyn determined to take 
advantage of the recent death of Roger Mortimer to strengthen 
his position in the south and east. He made his way toward 
Builth, and would appear to have been engaged upon the 
reduction of Builth Castle when the misfortune occurred 
which resulted in his death and in the practical termination 
of the Welsh resistance. 

It was while his followers were holding the passage of the 
Yrfon at Orewyn Bridge that Lly welyn, deeming their position 
secure for the time being, left his troops for the purpose, 
according to Professor Tout, of conferring with some local 
chieftains. In his absence the English crossed the stream at 
another place and attacked the Welsh in the rear. Messengers 
were sent to lylywelyn requesting his return, and he was 
hurrying back to lead his men when he was met by Stephen 
Frankton, a Shropshire lanceman, and slain. The identity 
of his victim was unknown to the death-dealer until, on 
searching the body, he found documents that made it clear 
that this was the famous Llywelyn, once Prince of all Wales. 
As was usual in those days, the chieftain once recognized, 
his head was struck off and sent to the king, who, after 
exhibiting it to his army, dispatched it to lyondon. The 
body was eventually buried at Cwm Hir. 

With the death of lylywelyn the struggle practically came 
to an end. For a few months longer David continued to 
wage some sort of resistance, but in June 1283 he was betrayed 
by his own men, and in the October following was put to 
death, after a trial at the Parliament convened at Shrewsbury. 

lylywelyn on his death left no male descendants. His wife, 
Eleanor, had died in child-birth shortly after their union. The 
child, Gwenllian, was destined to end her days an unwilling 
nun in the convent of Sempringhami. 

The time had come, indeed, when Wales v/as to begin to 
combine with England to form a united country. The process 
of absorption which had been progressing silently for centuries 



THE DOWNFALL 

had at last prepared the Welsh for amalgamation with the 
English. As we shall see, the juncture did not take place at 
once or in a moment. Many grievances arose which had 
to be redressed. Rebellions, some small, some large, broke 
out. For years there was a feeling of enmity between English 
and Welsh in the border counties. But at last Welsh aid in 
the French wars and a Welsh king on the English throne 
completed what Edward's conquest had commenced — the 
arnalgamation of V/ales and England. 



349 



CHAPTER XX 

FROM THE CONQUEST TO OWAIN 
GLYNDWR 

THE triumph of Edward marks the end of the history 
of Wales as a separate, independent state. All that 
remains for us now to do is to trace the development 
of certain trends which have the appearance of being of a 
national character. In particular we shall have to consider 
the rising of the Welsh under Owain Glyndwr — a movement 
which was like to cost Henry IV his crown had it not been 
for the perverse self-complacency of Hotspur, For the rest, 
however, the history of Wales as a separate nation is already 
told. As we read in the Historie of Cambria, " Prince I^lywelyn 
and his brother David being so basely taken off, and leaving 
nobody to lay any specious claim to the principality of Wales, 
King Edward, by a .statute made at Ruthlan [Rhuddlan], 
incorporated and annexed it to the Crown of England." This 
important statute, which was virtually an act of annexation, 
shows its purpose in the preamble, which runs as follows : 
" Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Ivord of 
Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to all his subjects of his land 
of Snowdon and of other his lands in Wales, greeting in the 
I/ord. The Divine Providence, which is unerring in its own 
government, among other gifts of its dispensation wherewith 
it hath vouchsafed to distinguish us and our realm of England, 
hath now of its favour wholly and entirely transferred under 
our proper dominion the land of Wales, with its inhabitants 
heretofore subject unto us in feudal right, all obstacles what- 
soever ceasing, and hath annexed and united the same unto the 
Crown of the aforesaid realm as a member of the same body." 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

The result of this Statuta Wallie was to separate North Wales 
from the marches. The eastern part of Wales was divided 
into counties ^ and placed under the English system of local 
government ; sheriffs and other officers were appointed ; the 
English mode of legal procedure was established; the office 
of coroner was introduced ; the king's writs were made to run 
in Wales ; the assize, the jury, essoins, and vouching to 
warranty in the English manner were also introduced ; the 
English law of dower took the place of the old Welsh law 
relating to goods in communion and division on separation 
and da. 

In one important particular, however, the old Welsh system 
still lived on. The Welsh mode of inheritance of land, not 
according to the law of primogeniture, but according to a 
custom similar to that existing in Kent to-day, ^ was preserved. 
In the future as in the past Welsh land descended, not to the 
eldest son, but to all heirs equally. But one change was made 
even here. Edward expressly excluded natural children from 
inheriting (at least where ^ there were legitimate children) . 
Welsh civil procedure and the old Welsh law of theft (very 
similar in many ways to the equally old HaUfax gibbet-law) 
were also preserved to a certain extent, but in general the 
EngUsh criminal law was substituted for the Welsh. 

It will be observed that the preamble to the Statuta Wallie 
relates to Snowdon and the Welsh lands lying around. It did 
not apply to the marcher lands. As Sir David Brynmor Jones 
points out, the result was " to create formally an important 
distinction between the Principahty land and the marchers." 
It must also be remembered that the marches included all 
land, wherever situated, which was under the control of a 
marcher lord. He retained considerable seigneurial rights, 

^ The counties thus formed were Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, and Merioneth- 
shire. The shire system was also introduced into or perfected in Flintshire, 
Caermarthenshire, and Cardiganshire. 

* As Sir Henry Maine pointed out many years ago, there are leading 
differences between the two systems. For our purpose, however, they are 
similar. The Kentish custom is likely to be abolished if the Real Property 
Bill introduced iu 1914 is passed. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

including power to sentence to death for criminal offences or 
to pardon, and the king's writ did not run in the marches. He 
had his own chancery and his own courts. He could hold 
pleas of all actions at law. He could create boroughs. He 
had, in fact, the jura regalia, and was in much the same 
position as a palatine earl. 

When we remember that according to I^ord Herbert of 
Chirbury there were at one time no fewer than 141 lordship 
marchers, it can be imagined that the conflict of custom and the 
divergences in the standards of justice were considerable. It 
would appear that this diversity of law and custom was added 
to by the existence in some lordships of two courts, one for 
the English tenants, the other for the Welsh, and in the two 
different law was applied. As Stephen says,^ " So much of 
Wales as had not been brought under the Statutum Walliae 
by Edward I continued till the 27 Henry VIII (1535) to 
be governed by a number of petty chiefs called lords 
marchers." 

The evils which sprang from these many jurisdictions had 
an important bearing on the history of Wales for the next two 
centuries. With so many masters having rule over them, it is 
not to be wondered at that the Welsh were discontented and 
eventually rose in rebellion. It has been suggested compara- 
tively recently that the main cause of the rising under Owain 
Glyndwr was the Black Death, with its resulting misery. 
That there is much probability in this suggestion is certain, 
but it should also be remembered that the Welsh had been 
groaning for over a century under seigneurial jurisdictions 
without any native protectors to guai d them from real oppres- 
sion, as had been the case in the earlier years of the struggle 
between Welsh and Norman and Welsh and English. ^ As we 
shall see in a subsequent chapter, when a Welshman was at last 
upon the throne of England an attempt was made to develop 1 1 

^ History of Criminal Law, vol. i, p. 142. 

* Had the English law as administered in the royal courts been introduced 
and the seigneurial jurisdictions pruned there would probably have been 
no great feeling against it. See Pollock and Maitland, History of English 
Law, vol. i, pp. 220, 221. 

352 . 



I 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

the prince's court into a Council of the Marches sufficiently- 
well equipped and powerful to combat the marcher lords. 
Injustice was checked, and with it lawlessness. But that great 
reform lay far in the future. 

Revolt 

We have now roughly sketched out the position as regards 
the administration, or maladministration, of law under the new 
regime. There is every reason to believe that the Welsh were 
labouring under some very real grievances after the overthrow 
of lylywelyn. As Powel tells us, the Welsh did not love the 
English; they could not forget the oppressions and " intoler- 
able insolences " of the English administrators. As to the 
Caernarvon Castle fraud, we pass it by in silence. Whether 
Edward really hoped to comfort the Welsh by cracking his 
little joke about the prince who could not speak a word of 
English we know not. It is certain that his subsequent 
grants of lordships and towns upon English followers cannot 
but have roused opposition among the Welsh. 

There was one Welshman who must have felt particularly 
bitter at the turn affairs were taking. Rhys ap Maredudd, 
the traitor who had sold lylywelyn, hoping to obtain the more 
from the English, had gained but little by his treachery. He 
had seen the English encroaching more and more, and had 
lost his right to hold court or to judge his fellow-countrymen. 
Finally, the bitterest blow fell when he was cited to serve on a 
jury ^ before the justice Robert de Tippetot.^ Rhys indignantly 
refused, alleging his ancient privileges and liberties as his 
excuse. He was to learn that a new order of things had come. 
Proceedings were instituted against him. Rhys retaliated by 
calling up his tenants. After some delay, caused by the king's 
promise to redress all grievances, he attacked his enemies' 
lands and "burnt and spoiled several towns belonging to the 
English." The Earl of Cornwall, however, who was sent to 

* This is doubtful. We have accepted Powel's language. He says, " cited 
with all the rest of the covmtry." If he were speaking technically, ' country * 
means jury. 2 i^ater spelt ' Tiptoft.' 

z 353 



HISTORY OF WALES 

quell the rising, had little difficulty in putting down this small 
rebellion and in overthrowing Rhys' castle of Dryslwyn. His 
main loss, indeed, was caused, not by Rhys' followers, but by 
the walls of the castle falling unexpectedly upon the besiegers 
while they were mining them. 

Rhys, however, was not content to remain under the heel of 
Tippetot. We consequently find him in 1290 raising another 
insurrection. This time Tippetot himself replied. According 
to Powel, Tippetot organized a strong force, with which, after 
the slaughter of 4000 (?) of the Welsh, he took Rhys prisoner. 
The Michaelmas following saw the end of this Welshman. 
Sent to York — where Edward was staying on his way to 
Scotland — he was tried and condemned to death. He was 
dragged to execution by horses in the manner so common in 
those days. 

A more serious rising occurred in 1294. Wales was still 
sullenly discontented. Edward's demand requiring service in 
Gascony was resented in Wales as fiercely as m England and 
the marches. The new tax of a fifteenth on chattels was 
an added grievance. In Michaelmas 1294, the Welsh plans 
having matured, the signal for revolt went forth, and all 
Wales rose up in one final attempt for freedom. The leader, 
Madog (possibly a natural son of I^lywelyn ap Gruff udd), led 
the men of Gwynedd and seized Caernarvon Castle. Maelgwn 
Vychan at the head of the West Welsh captured Caermarthen 
and Cardigan. The marches were on fire. The men of Rhos 
and Rhufoniog laid siege to Denbigh, and the castles of Flint 
were in danger. Glamorgan rose against Gilbert of Gloucester, 
whose strong castle of Caerphilly, though impregnable itself, 
was unable to overawe the countryside. Morgan, their 
leader, was, however, careful to make clear that his grievance 
was against the earl, not against the king. 

The position was so grave that Edward postponed his 
French campaign. The Gascon levies, then at Portsmouth, 
were hurried to the Severn. Criminals were pardoned on 
promise to serve against the Welsh and in Gascony. By such 
means a thousand men-at-arms had been gathered under the 

354 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

royal standard by Christmas, and meanwhile the marcher 
lords had mustered their retainers. 

In the meantime the levies from Portsmouth, under Edmund, 
Earl of Lancaster, and Henry lyacy, had been met by the Welsh 
at Denbigh and defeated. Edward, however, after keeping 
Christmas at Aberconway, determined to lead his troops in 
person, and to push on still further into the interior. The 
Welsh met with a slight success in capturing most of the 
king's baggage. Floods also aided them, cutting off Con- 
way from supplies, so that we are informed that " the king 
with all his followers were constrained to endure a great 
deal of hardships, insomuch that at last water mixed with 
honey, and very coarse ordinary bread, with the saltest meat, 
were accounted the greatest delicacies for his Majesty's own 
table." Edward, however, won the admiration of his followers 
by sharing with them the rigours of the campaign, and refused 
to drink a bottle of wine which his followers had carefully 
preserved for him, saying that since he had brought them to 
that pass it was but right to suffer equally with those whom 
he led. At last the floods subsided, Edward was joined by 
his main force, and the Welsh, realizing that further resist- 
ance was for the time being impossible, avoided further 
engagements. Edward, on the other hand, contented himself 
with cutting down many of the woods so troublesome to an 
advancing army, and with building the castle of Beaumaris 
in Anglesey and strengthening and fortifying the other royal 
castles in Wales. ^ 

The king having retired, Madog once more rose in revolt. 
He succeeded in capturing Oswestry and in defeating the 
forces brought against him by I/ord Strange. At last, how- 
ever, William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who had already 
inflicted heavy loss on the Welsh by adopting tactics then new, 
but later destined to win for England such victories as Crecy 
and Poitiers, leading the marcher forces, met and decisively 
defeated Madog after a bloody battle fought upon the hills of 

1 It should be remembered that after the conquest Edward had castled 
Snowdonia and North Wales, 

3SS 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Cefn Digoll, near Cemais Castle. The Welsh leader was cap- 
tured and imprisoned in the Tower, and with the dropping 
of the portcullis of that historic stronghold behind him the 
last great insurrection in Wales until the time of Owain 
Glyndwr was at an end. 

Peace 

The Welsh now commenced to settle down to live the lives 
of peaceful citizens. The new order of things was not an 
unmixed evil. The Statute of Rhuddlan had given wide 
powers to the sheriff to repress crime. We read that he was 
empowered to make inquiry into very many offences, from 
treason to those committed by whittaws — i.e. those who 
whitened hides of oxen and horses, knowing the same to have 
been stolen, so that they might not be capable of identification — 
and by redubbers of stolen clothes, who turned stolen costumes 
into new shapes for a like reason, and those committed by men 
who were apparently in the habit of stealing pigeons from 
dovecotes. The coroner also had been empowered to deal 
with thieves, manslayers, and other malefactors, for we read 
that when such criminals " shall fly to the church, the 
coroner, as soon as he shall be certified thereof, shall direct 
the bailiff of our lord the king for that commote to cause to 
come before him at a certain day the good and lawful men of 
the neighbourhood ; and in their presence, after recognitioi^ 
made of the felony, shall cause the abjuration to be made in 
this manner : That the felon shall be brought out unto the 
church door, and a seaport shall be assigned him by th^ 
coroner, and then he shall abjure the realm ; and, according' 
as the port assigned shall be far or near, the term shall be set 
for his going out of the realm aforesaid : So that in journeying 
toward that port, bearing in his hand a cross, he shall not in 
any manner turn out of the king's highway, that is to say, 
neither upon the right hand nor upon the left, but shall always 
hold to the same until he shall depart the realm." 

It will be seen from these and like ordinances that the 
English Government was determined to repress the lawlessness 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

for which Wales had for years been notorious. The result was 
soon evident. The Welsh quickly found that the new state 
of things favoured commerce, and the people that in the 
time of Giraldus had despised trade and had regarded it as 
unworthy of a free man now began to apply themselves to 
making money. The period was, indeed, one of great ex- 
pansion in the world of business, not only in Wales, but in 
England also. Boroughs were becoming common ; charters 
granting fair and market rights are found by the hundred in 
the later years of Edward I and the early years of Edward II's 
reign. In 1299 the statute De Falsa Moneta had been passed, 
and letters ordering the suppression of bad coinage, etc., had 
been sent to all the sheriffs of England and to others, including 
Reginald de Grey, Justice of Chester, Walter de Pederton, 
Justice of North Wales, and John de Havering, Justice of West 
Wales. Welsh towns were receiving grants of borough rights 
throughout the fourteenth century, and special grants were 
made to the men of Harlech. Caermarthen, again, had been 
specially favoured from much earlier times, and the old 
privileges were confirmed. 

It is not to be expected, however, that a conquered country 
will immediately submit to the commands and demands of 
the conqueror. Throughout the early years of Edward II's 
reign there are numerous references in the Calendar of Close 
Rolls to Wales, many of them being directed to Roger de 
Mortuo Mari (Mortimer), Justice of Wales, who is frequently 
ordered to see that the king's castles in Wales are fortified 
and well guarded. We also find him (in 1309) ordered not to 
appoint Welshmen to fill the offices of sheriff and bailiff if 
he can find Englishmen. The Welsh also suffered from the 
marchers, and in 1316 we find the men of Powys flying to 
Merioneth on account of the dissensions in Powys between 
John de Cherleton and his wife Hawise, and Griffin de la Pole. 
In the main, however, the years following the rebellion of 
Madog had been quiet. 

In 1316 a small insurrection broke out under the leadership 
of I^lywelyn Bran. In February of that year we read of the 

357 



HISTORY OF WALES 

king sending Humplirey de Bohun, Barl of Hereford and 
Essex, to quell the rising of the Welsh. In the March following 
we have an order addressed to Humphrey directing him to 
cause lylywelyn, his wife, children, and others, " who lately 
rose against the king in Wales and then surrendered," to be 
taken to the Tower of Ivondon. Another order was directed 
to John de Crumbwell (Cromwell), Constable of the Tower, 
" to receive the same and keep them safely." The rebellion, 
indeed, had been of less importance than the English Govern- 
ment had been led to expect. Orders given to John de Grey 
and John de Cherleton to aid in suppressmg the rising in 
Powys were cotmtermanded in the same month, the opposition 
being at an end. The Welsh captives seem to have been well 
treated. Documents exist authorizing the payment of ^d. 
a day to lylywelyn Bran and lycukina his wife and 2d. a day 
to his sons and supporters while in the Tower. 

Apart from this short-lived rebellion Wales seems to have 
gradually settled down. Edward II had doubtless many 
pleasant memories of the days he had spent as prince in Wales 
and on the borders. His reign is certainly marked by many 
attempts to arrive at a friendly understanding with the gallant 
Httle country of the west. In 132 1 we find orders to suppress 
risings against the king being given, not to Mortimers or 
Greys, but to Rhys ap Gruff ydd of West Wales and South 
Wales and to Sir Gruffydd ap Rhys in North Wales. In 1328, 
again, we have a reference to Master Rhys Appowel (or ap 
Howel), who is described as " the late king's justice in South 
Wales and West Wales," and an order is made for the payment 
of the arrears of his accustomed fees for that office. 

The same conciliatory spirit is shown in the review of the 
extents made during Edward II's reign. Even the villeins 
were able to get an order reducing the amounts payable, and 
in 1325 we find the villeins of the king's manor of Penrhos in 
Anglesey getting a rebate of £21 ys. o\d., John de Grey, Justice 
of North Wales, having examined into the matter and having 
found that the villeins of that manor had been extended at 
£48 9s. i|^. instead of £27 2S. i\d. 

358 




PivATE LI. Seai, of Edward, Prince of Waives 

[afterward Edward II of England) 358 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

Another step in tlie right direction was taken by Edward III 
when he extended the benefits of the Statute Staple to the 
merchants of Wales. The staple towns were, of course, the 
great centres of trade in the fourteenth century. Nowhere 
save at these towns could the staple products of England and 
Wales be sold. Neither wool, wool-fells, leather, nor lead could 
be dealt with elsewhere than at the staple. Staple privileges 
were thus of great value. In 1332 staple towns were appointed 
at Shrewsbury and Caermarthen for Wales. Cardiff was, how- 
ever, not granted the privilege, though it has sometimes been 
said that it was. In 1354 another step was taken. By the 
Ordinacio Stapularum it was provided that " Because we 
well perceive that merchants strangers do not come so com- 
monly into . . . Wales for to merchandise as they do into 
England, we will of our special grace that it shall be lawful 
to the people of . . . Wales, which cannot utter their wools, 
leather, wool-fells, and lead in . . . Wales to all merchants 
strangers, to come with their said merchandises, after that 
they be customed and cocketed in . . , Wales, to any of our 
staples in England." The result of this enlightened treat- 
ment of Wales was greatly to increase the worldly wealth 
of the Principality, and although there were bad times occa- 
sionally — as in 133 1, when there was such a famine of corn 
that a special licence was granted to David le Palmer 
and Hugh le Mareys of Bruggewater (Bridgwater) to import 
500 quarters of corn into Wales, notwithstanding the fact that 
importation of corn had lately been forbidden — it is evident that 
the Welsh were settling down to a condition of tranquillity. 
There is no sign during the whole of the fourteenth century of 
any extensive system of repressive legislation against the Welsh 
such as suddenly meets us in the early years of Henry IV' s 
reign. 

The Black Death 

The tide of prosperity which had been slowly rising received 
a rude set-back by the dreadful scourge of 1349. ^^^ Black 
Death, so called from the black marks which are the sign of 

359 



HISTORY OF WALES 

the bubonic plague, had come from the Bast, following the 
trade routes. As early as 1347 it had devastated the Levant, 
Italy and France received the fatal visitor in the year following. 
By 1349 i^ ^^^ raging in eastern England, and had reached 
the west of England by the autumn of that year. In Scotland 
it was unknown until 1350, and an army had assembled to 
ravage the Border, now prostrated by the disease. The raid 
never took place. While yet assembled the blow fell, and the 
soldiers dwindled away plague-stricken to their homes and 
their graves. 

In Wales the pestilence ravaged the country from end to 
end. Whole villages were wiped out, and there is evidence to 
show that the clergy and the monastic orders were especially 
attacked. Some authorities consider that half the population 
fell victims to the disease, and although this may perhaps be 
regarded as an exaggeration, it is probable that one-third of 
the clergy, the monks, and the peasants died of the plague. 
Churchyards were choked, plague-pits were filled. Clement VI 
took steps to enable the last sacrament to be administered by 
persons other than priests, special indulgences were granted, 
lay confessors were permitted. 

The results of this frightful visitation were immense. The 
wealthy men, lords of land and magnates, escaped to a large 
extent. The labourers, however, were greatly reduced in 
number. Cattle wandered unattended ; crops were left to rot 
in the fields ; commodities fell as the demand fell, but soon 
afterward, although food-stuffs still remained cheap, luxuries 
vastly increased in price. Wages went up enormously. 

As we know, the answer of the English Government was 
the Statute of Labourers and its various amendments. It 
was found, however, impossible, in practice, to get men to 
work on the old terms. The villein's position was immensely 
improved. For years the old services in kind, the duty of 
ploughing so many acres or sowing so much land, had been 
commuted for payment in money. Now, with increased wages, 
the labourer began to be free. No longer did dull poverty 
grind him down as in the past. He had some leisure. No 
360 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

longer was it necessary to toil ceaselessly to keep his rude 
home together. With increased wealth, with increased 
leisure, he began to look around ; he ceased to be an 
instrument of labour and became something of an intelligent 
being. 

On the other hand, the monks had been terribly weakened 
by the plague. Not only were their numbers largely reduced, 
but their wealth was also decreased. I^and dropped in value, 
and with it rents. One great result of this weakening of 
the monastic power was a wonderful quickening of religious 
thought. It may be that the years when men had looked on 
Death had caused this increase in rehgious fervour ; it may be 
that the monks, who in many cases in the fourteenth century 
had fallen so far from the earlier and purer types, had acted 
as a check upon religious feeling. It is certain that after the 
Black Death Wales experienced a revival both in religion and 
in poetry. 

The Poets of the Fourteenth Century 

So great was the increase in poetic feeHng that the history 
of Wales during the latter half of this century may almost be 
said to be the history of its poets. They exercised a great 
influence. They were the enemies of the priests, but not of 
religion. Christianity is a great enough, a wide enough 
philosophy to embrace many creeds and classes of people. 
The poets who sang of love, love of nature and love of life — 
and love of woman — were not the Antichrists that the clergy 
would insist on regarding them as being. The quickening of 
thought which came from the singers woke man once more 
from the lethargy into which he had fallen. Some writers 
have even gone so far as to trace to the poets of this period 
the commencement of the Renaissance. Thus Heckethorn 
has said that " it appears reasonable to consider the trouba- 
dours as the originators of that vast conspiracy directed 
against the Church of Rome, the champions of a revolt which 
had not for its guide and object material interests and vulgar 
ambitions, but a religion and a polity of I^ove." 

361 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Davydd ap Gwilym 

The great troubadour of Wales was certainly Davydd ap 
Gwilym. Born near Ivlanbadarn Fawr, or it may be near 
Ivlandaff, in Glamorganshire, he came of gentle parents, and 
received an excellent education abroad, acquiring, among other 
accomplishments, a knov/ledge of Latin and Italian. On his 
return to his native country he acted as tutor to the daughter 
of Ivor Hael of Maesaleg. He seems to have played Abelard to 
her Heloise. The result, however, was less unfortunate to him, 
though his lady-love was compelled to retire to a convent in 
Anglesey. This was not his only experience in light dalliance. 
He has, indeed, been likened to Petrarch, for throughout the 
remainder of his life we find him addressing odes to Morvydd, 
as Petrarch did to I^aura. To this lady he wrote some 147 
poems, and eventually his sweet singing induced her to elope 
with him. As a result of this escapade he was caught and 
imprisoned, but was later ransomed by the men of Glamorgan. 

It will be observed that Davydd's life was by no means 
perfect, and it is not to the dishonour of the Church that the 
clergy were in frequent conflict with him. But that he was 
a man of noble mind, apart from the weaknesses already 
mentioned, cannot be disputed. 

As a troubadour he is, of course, worthy of a high place 
in any literature. Nor did he limit himself to songs of love. 
Nature also shared his heart. When he sings of summer — 

Thou Summer ! father of delight, 
With thy dense spray and thickets deep ; 
Gemmed monarch, with thy rapturous hght 
Rousing thy subject glens from sleep I 

And thus mid all thy radiant flowers. 
Thy thickening leaves and glossy bowers. 
The poet's task shall be to glean 
Roses and flowers that softly bloom 
(The jewels of the forest's gloom !), 
And trefoils wove in pavement green. 
With sad humihty to grace 
His golden Ivor's resting-place ^ 

1 Referring to the custom of placing flowers on the graves of the dead. 
362 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

— we forgive him his folly and wonder at the narrowness of 
the anchorite of I^landdewi Brevi, who, when speaking of the 
bards of whom Davydd ap Gwilym was a worthy example, 
wrote : " With all their might they serve the devil." It is, 
indeed, curious with what hatred the monk and the bard 
regarded one another throughout the greater part of the 
fourteenth century. The rivalry had, it is true, existed from 
early times, but it was only now that the two parties were 
in such violent opposition. Now the poets were accusing the 
priests of cloaking religion in a mourner's garb ; of denying 
to man the right to rejoice in the beauty of nature ; of 
chaining men's minds to a critical and narrow creed. The 
monks, humane Franciscan as well as Dominican, replied with 
bitterness that the bard's passion was for earthly things, for 
earthly beauties and for earthly joys. It was the old conflict 
between joyousness and austerity. But though it was old and 
tmending, it is strange that it was in this period that it became 
so vocal and so bitter. It is stranger when we remember that 
it was Davydd ap Gwilym and no monk who wrote : 

On Sunday, sacred holiday 1 

As, late at eve, I stayed to pray 

{By the bright lamps that light that shrine) 

To God, and to His orders nine. 

In yonder church, that, to my eyes. 

Appears a second Paradise. . . . 

Davydd ap Gwilym, though the greatest of the fourteenth- 
century Welsh poets and the one who rightly won the title of 
chief bard of Glamorgan, was not the only singer who enriched 
Welsh literature about this time. Other notable names were 
those of Gruffydd I^lwyd, chief bard to Owain Glyndwr ; 
Ithel Ddu ; Mabelav ap lylywarch ; Howel Ystoryn ; Y Ystus 
Ivlwyd ; Trahaearn Brydydd Mawr, or ' Trahaearn the noted 
bard ' ; and, last and chiefest, lolo Goch. 

loLo Goch 

This poet, whose real name was Edward Ivlwyd, was of 
noble birth, being lord of Llechryd and, according to Gruffydd 

. 363 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Hiraelliog, the son of the Countess of I^incoln. Although, as 
many think, much inferior to Davydd ap Gwilym, he was 
certainly a poet of distinction, and at the last of the " three 
Eisteddfods of the Renaissance " of Welsh literature, a meeting 
held under the patronage of Roger Mortimer, first Earl of 
March, and presided over by Davydd ap Gwilym, he was 
made a chaired bard. 

Some writers have described him as Owain Glyndwr's 
family bard, but he was in truth the friend rather than the 
dependent of that great Welshman. Yet, although the equal 
of Owain in birth, that patriot's prowess as a fighter and genius 
as a leader of men caused the poet to look up to him as a 
master, so that we find him writing : 

My I,ord supreme, of high descent, 
To minstrels most munificent. 
Can welcome still, nor deem it hard, 
A crooked, old, decrepid bard. 

Most of the poems of lolo that have come down to us are 
patriotic or devotional, but he has also given us an excellent 
descriptive piece recounting the manifold beauties of his 
friend's mansion at Sycharth and the hospitality to be found 
therein. 

Sir John Gower 

There was another poet writing in another language who 
must not be forgotten. Sir John Gower, who flourished in 
the reign of Richard II, though a native of Gwyr, in South 
Wales, was among the first to show that English could be 
made the vehicle of poetry. His rhymes, such as, 

He taught her till she was certayne 

Of Harp, Citole, and of Kiote, 

With many a tewne, and many a note, 

compare ill with the Welshmen's polished verses, but he helped 
to plant the tree which, tended by Chaucer, flourished so 
wonderfully under the Elizabethans. 

364 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

The Peasants 

We have already touched upon the Black Death and seen 
how wages rose and rents fell. We have also seen how in some 
ways the position of the labourers was improved by that 
scourge — that is to say, in Wales. As late as Elizabeth's 
reign we find Parliament referring to the immense decrease 
in rents consequent on this plague, and it is evident that the 
peasants in many cases became small tenant farmers at very 
much reduced rents. 

It is convenient here to consider what had happened to the 
land after the Statute of Rhuddlan. Before the Edwardian 
conquest we know that the Welsh held land by tribal rather 
than individual ownership. When Edward turned North 
Wales into a huge royal demesne portioned out by successive 
gifts to the Prince of Wales, or, failing such grants, remain- 
ing in the king, the principle of individual ownership was 
established. The old chiefs became tenants in fee-simple, 
holding by a form of tenure similar to gavelkind. As time 
went on they became very like lords of manors, with under- 
tenants holding by copyhold. With regard to the villeins the 
position was more difficult. They had for centuries occupied 
small plots of land or little farms in return for services rendered 
to the Welsh chiefs. Even before the Edwardian conquest 
and long before the Black Death the tendency had been for 
these services to be commuted for payments in money. The 
villeins or peasants had thus become for all practical purposes 
small tenant farmers paying a yearly or quarterly rent for 
their holding, sometimes in money, sometimes in kind, but 
comparatively and increasingly rarely in services. After 
the conquest a genuine attempt seems to have been made 
to keep the old system on substantially without alteration. 
The old payments were continued and tenants were not 
disturbed. 

We have spoken of the peasants as being practically tenants 
at a rent — that is to say, leaseholders. They were, however, 
in rather a better position than this. In many cases they 



HISTORY OF WALES 

and their ancestors had occupied the same holdings for many- 
years, sometimes for centuries. They paid, it is true, a rent, 
but in many cases it was a small rent, almost a nominal one. 
Their tenure was regarded as more or less fixed. They had 
what we may perhaps describe as a perpetually renewable 
lease at a low rent. 

Another change seems to have come with the Black Death. 
As Professor Tout says (speaking of England — the same holds 
for Wales) : " Rents fell heavily. I/andlords found that they 
could only retain their tenants by wholesale remissions. 
When farmers perished of the plague it was often impossible 
to find others to take up their farms. It was even harder for 
lords who farmed their own demesne, to provide themselves 
with the necessary labour. Hired labourers could not be 
obtained except at ruinous rates. It was injudicious to press 
for the strict performance of villein services, lest the villein 
should turn recalcitrant and leave his holding. The lord 
preferred to commute his villein's service into a small payment. 
On the whole the best solution of the difficulty was for him to 
abandon the ancient custom of farming his demesne through 
his bailiff, and to let out his lands on such rents as he could 
get to tenant farmers." The result was a great increase in 
the number of small holders, and a still further reduction of the 
rents payable. In some cases, in Wales, it would appear that 
the rents had dropped so that with the lessening of the value of 
money in'the succeeding centuries the leasehold nature of the 
holding began to be forgotten, the nominal rents were unpaid, 
and the villeins began to regard themselves as freeholders, or, 
at worst, copyholders. This claim was eventually, in the 
time of Elizabeth, decided to be bad in law, and the villeins 
were then granted renewable occupation leases of twenty-one 
years at a fixed rental. 

From what we have said it will be seen that the latter half 
of the fourteenth century was a time of liberation for the serf. 
The Golden Age for labour was, of course, prevented in England 
by the repressive statutes dealing with the labour question — 
statutes which finally resulted in the rebellion of 138 1 In 

366 



CONQUEST TO OWAIN GLYNDWR 

Wales, however, it is not at all clear that this period did not 
see an improvement in the lot of the labourer. 

It is, however, quite certain that, whether his status or 
financial position was improved or not, the years following 
the Death were years of grave discontent, both in England and 
Wales. It must not be imagined that discontent connotes 
grievances. To-day the position of the working classes, both 
from a financial and a social point of view, is better than it has 
been for centuries, but education has increased their needs 
more rapidly than wealth has made the fulfilment of those 
needs possible. The result has been a decade of unexampled 
discontent. It was, we believe, much the same at the end of 
the fourteenth century in Wales. The old serf, the slave 
attached to land, the villein bound down to rustic services, 
had gone ; the peasant holding his land at a low rental, or 
tilling the soil at an adequate rate, had come. New means of 
earning money had arisen. Bowmen and pikemen, mer- 
cenaries in all capacities for service in the French wars, were 
eagerly sought after. Wages considerably in excess of those 
paid in the previous century were being demanded and given. 
But, comparative prosperity notwithstanding, Wales, like 
England, seethed with discontent. The I^oUard taught the 
equality of man. John Ball in Essex, speaking for the villeins, 
could say : " How can the gentry show that they are greater 
lords than we ? " Richard RoUe ^ had already asked : 

When Adam delf and Eve span, spir, if thou will spede, 
Whare was then the pride of man, that now marres his mede ? 

Wales was not backward in the I^ollard movement. Toward 
the end of the century John Oldcastle, afterward Sir John, 
the lyollard martyr, was castellan of Kidwelly Castle. Walter 
Brute, one of the greatest of Wyclif's followers, was preaching 
the new faith in the marcher lands. 

When dealing with the prevailing discontent we do not find 
the old chroniclers talking of the misery, but rather of the 
greediness of the poor. In truth it was neither. The oppressed 

^Died 1349. 

367 



HISTORY OF WALES 

were beginning to break their bonds. Freedom to think, 
freedom from serfdom, more money, more leisure — these were 
the claims common to England and Wales. Meetings were 
held, unions of labourers formed. The wage-earner was for a 
time in a commanding position, and a semblance of general 
equality seemed almost within his reach. When the bubble 
burst, when it was at last perceived that men were not equal 
and that the toilers must still toil and the ignorant still listen 
to preachers who spoke a language they did not understand, 
when it was found that knowledge was still denied them — 
then the peasants rose. The rising was wisely timed. England 
was convulsed with a dynastic struggle which eventually 
placed Henry of lyancaster upon the throne. It was fortunate 
for Wales that at that time a man of very considerable ability 
was ready to come forward and turn what might have been a 
mere rising of labourers into a national movement which, on 
the whole, we believe, was for the benefit of Wales. That 
Owain Glyndwr was a national hero, then, is evident. Such a 
strong impression did he make on the minds of his countrymen 
that even to-day the majority of Welshmen would choose him 
as the greatest leader of the Welsh their country has ever 
produced. 



368 



CHAPTER XXI 
OWAIN GLYNDWR 

OWAIN AP GRUFFYDD, lord of Glyndyvrdwy/ or 
Glyndwr, was of princely blood, being descended on 
the paternal side from Bleddyn ap Cynvyn. Born 
about 1359 — for we find him referred to as being twenty-seven 
years of age when he appeared as a witness in the famous 
Scrope and Grosvenor lawsuit in 1386 — he was the son of a 
Welsh squire of respectable fortune. The major portion of 
his estates lay in the north around Sycharth, the family seat 
so eloquently described by lolo Goch, but when he entered 
into his patrimony he also had the manors of Yscoed and 
Gwynionedd in South Wales. 

The place of his birth cannot be fixed with certainty, but 
tradition has it that he was born at Trefgarn Owain. It is 
believed that he was educated at Oxford, the university to 
which, perhaps, the majority of Welshmen desiring to read at 
the older universities have at all times gone. It is certain that 
after completing his general education he read law at West- 
minster, and was, perhaps, called to the Bar. I^ater he became 
something of a courtier, and acted as squire to Arundel, 
according to Capgrave. He was thus by no means the rude, 
uncultivated leader of peasants that some of the older Saxon 
authorities would have us believe. Shakespeare rightly sums 
up the quality of his mind when he makes Mortimer say : 

In faith, he is a worthy gentleman. 
Exceedingly well read, and profited 
In strange concealments, valiant as a lion 
And wondrous affable, and as bountiful 
As mines of India. 

^ Pronounced in English ' Glendourdee.' 

2 A 369 



HISTORY OF WALES 

And again when he puts in Glyndwr's own mouth the 
words : 

I was trained up in the English Court, 
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp 
Many an English ditty lovely well. 

Throughout Glyndwr's life some thought him possessed of 
magic power. Even his birth was supposed to have been 
signalled by strange occurrences, as we find him saying in 
Henry IV (Part I) : 

At my nativity 

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes. 

Of burning cressets ; and at my birth 

The frame and huge foundation of the earth 

Shak'd like a coward.. 

Many of his later victories were, indeed, set down by the 
Kngliish to magic, and he was credited with the power of 
making himself invisible at will. 

While yet a young man (in 1385) we find him serving in the 
Scottish campaign of Richard II, but shortly afterward he 
seems to have taken service with Henry of I^ancaster. He 
was from an early period of his life an enemy of lyord Grey 
of Ruthin, one of his most powerful neighbours, and in 1401 
he is supposed to have appealed to Parliament against that 
lord's encroachments on his land, but the date is an improbable 
one and there is no mention of the fact on the Rolls. It is 
not probable that he was on unfriendly terms either with 
Mortimer or Karl Warren. The latter had, indeed, been 
responsible for the return of the Glyndyvrdwy lands to the 
uncle of the two youths I^lywelyn and Gruffj^dd, popularly 
supposed to have been drowned by their guardians, Warren 
and Mortimer. It was in consequence of this belated act of 
repentance that Owain eventually inherited that property. 

The uncle above referred to, by name Gruffydd Vychan, was, 
of course, Owain's father, and upon his death Owain entered 
upon the patrimony and became a wealthy squire. He seems 
to have been, like most Welshmen, extremely hospitable, and 
his house, Sycharth, became noted as a meeting-place for 
bards, where the wandering minstrels were always sure to 

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OWAIN GLYNDWR 

find meat and drink in plenty and lodging suited to their 
quality. 

Throughout his early years it is apparent that he was 
friendly with the English. We have already seen that he was 
a follower of Richard II, and later of Arundel and Henry of 
I/ancaster. He was also connected by ties of blood with the 
English family of ly'Estrange, of Knockin, near Oswestry, and 
had married Margaret, daughter of Sir David Hanmer, one of 
Richard's Justices of the King's Bench. Most of his many 
daughters married into noble or gentle English or marcher 
families. It was not, indeed, until he was over forty years of 
age that we find him in opposition to the English Government. 
It may be that the trouble with I^ord Grey of Ruthin was the 
spark which fired the tinder. It may be that the disgrace he 
fell into with the English king in consequence of his failure 
to obey the summons to take part in the Scottish expedition 
of 1400 — a disgrace which was not merited, since his enemy 
Lord Grey, who had been entrusted with the summons, failed 
to deliver it until too late — caused him to rebel. He certainly 
retaliated by plundering Grey's estates and putting to death 
some of his household. In our opinion, however, it was not 
until the passing of statute 2 Henry IV, c. 12, that Glyndwr's 
rebellion can be regarded as a national movement. 

It is well known that before the final success of Henry 
Bolingbroke which resulted in his becoming Henry IV the 
Welsh as a nation were keen partisans of Richard II. It 
shows Glyndwr's early English sympathies that he is found 
on the side of Henry and the English popular party. In so 
acting he was flying in the face of the mass of Welsh opinion 
and was far from being a leader of the Welsh peasantry. His 
troubles with I^ord Grey and Henry seem to have resulted 
in a change of views. He would, however, have been, we 
believe, quite impotent as a national leader unless there had 
been some great and new grievance which called for redress. 
At the time of his outburst he was a squire of moderate fortune 
and nothing more. Wales, however, was crying aloud for a 
leader, discontent among the peasants was rife, and matters 

371 



HISTORY OF WALES 

came to a head with the passing of the Statutum de anno 
secundo. This statute was the first of a series of measures 
intended to repress the Welsh people. It debarred Welshmen 
born in Wales or having parents born in Wales from purchasing 
land or tenements within the boroughs of Chester, Shrews- 
bury, Bridgnorth, lyudlow, Leominster, Hereford, Gloucester, 
Worcester, or other merchant towns. No such Welshman 
could henceforth be chosen citizen or burgess in any of these 
places. Welshmen dwelling there were required to find 
surety for good behaviour, and were forbidden to wear armour 
within the precinct of the said towns. The Act also contained, 
of course, strict clauses directed against Lollards preaching 
or teaching or writing books. These provisions were followed 
by others requiring the Lords Marchers to keep sufficient 
" stuffing and ward " in their castles and seigneuries ; jorovid- 
ing that no "whole Englishman" should henceforth be con- 
victed at the suit of any Welshman within Wales ; debarring 
Welshmen from purchasing lands anywhere in England. 

In 1402 another measure was ]3assed, this time directed 
against the bards who up and down Wales had been rousing 
their countrymen to resistance. By an ordinance passed in 
that year it was commanded that " no waster, rhymer, minstrel, 
nor vagabond be in any wise sustained in the land of Wales 
to make commorthies ^ or gathering upon the common people 
there." These provisions were ostensibly enacted " to eschew 
many diseases and mischief, which have happened before this 
time in the land of Wales " by reason of the aforesaid ' wasters,' 
etc., but it is clear that it was the bards' patriotic lays which 
were troubling Henry. This same year saw the enactment 
of many other laws against the Welsh. They were forbidden 
to hold meetings or councils ; to bear armour ; to have or 
keep or hold castles, fortresses, or houses defensive ; to act as 
justice, chamberlain, chancellor, treasurer, sheriff, steward, 
constable of castle, receiver, escheator, coroner, chief forester, 
or in any other public office. Englishmen married to Welsh- 

* A collection frequently made at marriages or on other occasions when many 
people were assembled. 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

women were likewise debarred from holding office, and the 
English were forbidden to import victuals or armour into 
Wales. 

Of course, before most of these laws had been passed Wales 
was openly in arms against England. It is instructive to 
observe that the flame first burst forth in North and Mid Wales, 
and we agree with ' Owen Rhoscomyl ' that in those districts 
the rising was probably more political than social. When the 
South joined in later on they were doubtless actuated by 
social rather than political reasons. They were mainly 
peasants and labourers who wished to better their lot as 
against the landowners, whether English or Welsh, They 
were Owain's ' starvelings.' But it was not to these that 
Owain's followers were limited. He must have had Wales 
solidly behind him for his depredations to have been 
tolerated by his own countrymen. It was not merely the 
social unrest which was responsible for the spread of the 
revolt, it was not merely the oppression of the seigneurial 
jurisdictions, it was certainly not Owain's private grievances 
against Lord Grey. Of the many causes which were at work 
we cannot ignore the Welsh sympathy for Richard and the 
repressive measures of Henry's early years. These may not 
have lit the fire, but they fanned the flames. 

OwAiN IN Arms 

It was in 1400 that Owain first took up arms. As we have 
said, his first steps were taken against Lord Grey. He recovered 
the lands of which he had been dispossessed. This was in the 
summer of that year. Lords Talbot and Grey marched against 
him, and though at first they succeeded in surprising him he 
escaped, raised a force, proclaimed himself Prince of Wales, 
and by the end of September had plundered and burnt to the 
ground Ruthin town while the fair was being held there. 

Henry now deemed it necessary to march in person against 
Owain. He quickly penetrated as far as Anglesey, and 
plundered Llanvaes Convent, of the Franciscan order. Mean- 
while Owain, reaHzing that he was not powerful enough to 

373 



HISTORY OF WALES 

cross swords with Henry, had retired to the hills of Eryri. 
Owain's rebellion was treated as a cause of forfeiture of his 
estate, and his lands were granted to John, Earl of Somerset 
— who, however, would have adventured his life had he 
attempted to take them. 

Toward the end of the year Henry made an effort to gather 
to his standard all the Welsh who would make submission to 
his son Henry at Chester, Owain meanwhile was not idle. 
Though few Welshmen hurried to Chester, many Welshmen 
came from England — students from Oxford, and men of all 
classes from all parts of the country — to join the movement. 
The year 140 1 was to some extent favourable for a successful 
rising. Henry was threatened by both France and the Scots. 
Feeling his weakness, Henry is found issuing pardons to the 
Welsh concerned in the later rising, Owain and certain other 
leaders alone being excepted. The insurrection, however, had 
gone too far to be checked so easily. By the summer Owain 
had gathered a small army around him on Mount Plinlimmon, 
from which vantage-ground he plundered the surrounding 
country. Welshpool was sacked and burnt, the abbey of 
Cwm Hir, in Radnorshire, was destroyed, and Radnor Castle 
taken, the whole garrison of sixty men being beheaded on the 
edge of the castle yard. 

The Flemings of Pembrokeshire had also suffered. They 
replied by collecting 1500 men, with whom they succeeded in 
completely surrounding Owain's much less numerous force. 
Owain's men, however, knowing that they could expect no 
mercy, fought for their very lives. Hurling themselves 
against the weakest part of the encircling forces, they broke 
through the Flemings' ranks, and finally compelled them to 
retire, leaving 200 dead on the field. 

Henry, seeing that Owain was becoming a menace again, 
now led his troops into Wales. After ravaging the country 
and destroying Ystrad Fflur Abbey he was compelled by 
famine to retire. It is in connexion with this campaign that 
Pennant tells the story of the Welshman who, as he says, 
" having made a rash promise to the king to betray Glyndwr, 

374 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

refused afterward to perform it ; and, eagerly stretching out 
his neck to the headsman, told him to strike, for that he had 
two sons at that time in the service of his chieftain ; therefore 
would on no account reveal his councils." There were, how- 
ever, traitors among the Welsh. In the year following we 
read of how, while Owain and his cousin Howel Sele, of Nannau, 
in Merionethshire, were walking together after a conference at 
which they had attempted to settle their grievances, Owain, 
seeing a doe feeding, pointed it out to Howel, who was a 
splendid archer. Howel, bending his bow and pretending to 
take aim at the doe, suddenly turned upon Owain and shot 
the arrow straight at his breast. The traitorous deed was, 
however, ineffective. Owain was protected by a coat of mail 
worn beneath his clothes. What happened to Howel no man 
knows, but four decades later the skeleton of a man of about 
his size was found not far from the spot in the hollow of a 
mighty oak. 

It was some time before this attempt on Owain's life by his 
kinsman that Lord Grey had raised an army against Owain. 
A battle was fought at Vyrnwy, or, according to some, at Ruthin. 
The result was the defeat and capture of Grey. He was 
eventually ransomed by the payment of 6000 marks, and 
appears to have been forced into a marriage with Owain's 
daughter, Jane. 

Glyndwr's next success was against Sir Edmund Mortimer, 
over whom he gained a victory in the June of 1402. Owain 
was now free to ravage Herefordshire and South Wales. 
During these raids the lands of Edmund's young nephew, 
Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, suffered greatly. At last 
Edmund was forced to collect another army in order to attempt 
to lay Owain by the heels. The forces met at Bryn-glas, and 
the Welsh leader was again victorious. Well might Gruffydd 
Llwyd, Owain's chief bard, sing : 

Cambria's princely eagle, hail ! 

Of Gruffydd Vychan's noble blood 1 
Thy high renown shall never fail, 

Owain Glyndwr, great and good. 

375 



HISTORY OF WALES 

It was after this victory that, according to Thomas de 
Walsingham and Holinshed, the mutilations were practised by- 
Welshwomen of which Shakespeare speaks. There is probablj^ 
no truth in these stories, but of the importance of the battle 
itself there is no doubt. Edmund Mortimer was captured, 
and the first step taken toward that alliance which eventually 
proved so dangerous to Henry. The prestige which he won in 
this engagement was also of great service to the Welsh leader, 
and his countrymen began to rally round his banner in ever- 
increasing numbers. 

Meanwhile Henry had been collecting a strong force pre- 
paratory to launching an attack intended to crush Glyndwr 
once and finally. Writs had already been issued requiring 
the lieutenants of counties to assemble their forces and meet 
the king at lyichfield on July 7. Eventually the plans were 
slightly altered, and the king's forces were assembled at Chester, 
Shrewsbury, and Hereford by the end of August. While these 
ponderous preparations were being made Owain swept down 
upon Glamorganshire. Cardiff and Abergavenny were burnt. 
The archdeaconry of I/landaff was destroyed and the country 
ravaged. When at last the tripartite army under Henry, 
Henry of Monmouth — ^then but a boy — and the Earl of Arundel 
was ready to take the field, Owain replied by retiring to 
the mountain fastnesses, driving before him the cattle of 
the plains. The English, hampered by evil weather, found 
themselves in a desert. The crops had failed, storms of rain 
beat down upon the invading army, the inhabitants had 
fled and meat was unprocurable. Henry retreated, having 
accomplished nothing. Thus could Shakespeare say, in the 
person of Glyndwr : 

Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head 
Against my power ; thrice from the banks of Wye 
And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him 
Bootless home and weather-beaten back. 

So humbled were the English that the campaign is treated 
by the old annalists as having failed because Owain had magic 
powers. But it was no magic. Time after time throughout 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

the history of Wales have armies of invasion been beaten on 
the bleak hillsides of the Berwyns and of Eryri by weather, 
bogs, and hunger. So far Owain had played a game in which 
many a Welsh chieftain had taken a hand in the years gone 
by. It is Glyndwr's next action which has given him an 
imposing place in English as well as in Welsh history. 

The Alliance 

While this affair had been in progress the Earl of Northum- 
berland had succeeded in defeating the Scots at Homildon 
Hill. At this time, of course, the Percies were Henry's 
staunchest supporters. Trouble arose, however, over the 
captives whom Northumberland had taken, and for this and 
other causes the Percies became dissatisfied. At the same 
time Edmund Mortimer had been left by Henry a prisoner in 
Owain's hands and no serious attempt had been made to procure 
his release. The Mortimers had other causes for disloyalty. 
Henry's title to the throne was largely based on conquest, and 
so far as birth was concerned his claims were inferior to those 
of the young Earl of March, Edmund Mortimer's nephew. 

The result of these defections was to throw Percy, Mortimer, 
and Glyndwr into a confederacy, to which moral support and 
a promise of active aid was rendered by the Douglas, whom 
Percy had lately liberated. Glyndwr had been careful through- 
out the time of Mortimer's captivity to treat his prisoner 
with marked respect. It is not improbable that Owain per- 
ceived that such a captive might prove a powerful lever in 
the case of real necessity. There was thus no personal enmity 
in the way of a unification of the forces of the two leaders. 

The three plotters met, we are informed, " at the house of 
Dafydd Daron, or of Aberdarvon, Dean of Bangor, son of 
Evan ap Dafydd ap Gruffydd, descended from Cenadoc ap 
Jestyn, a Prince of Wales." The arrangement was that the 
dragon, the lion, and the wolf ^ were to partition England and 
Wales into three portions, each retaining a third. 

^ That is, Owain, Percy, and Mortimer respectively. See as to this meeting, 
however, Wylie, History of England under Henry IV, vol. i, p. 354. 

377 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Glyndwr was now at the highest point in his career. We 
find him keeping a regular court in Wales, possessing his own 
chancery, seal, and courts of law. We even read of his calling 
a Parliament of the de Montfort type to meet at Machynlleth, 




Owain's Great Seai, 




O wain's Privy Seai^ 

From Archcsologia, vol. xxv. By permission of the Society 
of Antiquaries of Ivondon. 



and he was also formally crowned Prince of Wales. It was 
at this stage that he narrowly escaped assassination at the 
hands of his brother-in-law, David Gam. The attempt was 
not fatal either to the attacked or the attacker. Gam was 
merely imprisoned, and many years afterward he is found 
fighting at the battle of Agincourt. 

The year 1403 was mainly important, of course, for the 
378 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

battle of Shrewsbury, at which Harry Hotspur was slain and 
Henry succeeded in destroying the hopes and plans of the 
confederates. The movements of this year have been very 
differently described by different authorities. The established 
Saxon view is that the debacle of Shrewsbury was caused to a 
great extent by Glyndwr's liking for destructive warfare — a 
trait which kept him ravaging South Wales too long, so that he 
was unable to form a juncture with Percy's forces at Shrews- 
bury, and arrived too late to support his ally, being con- 
sequently forced to look passively on at the defeat of Hotspur's 
army and the destruction of his greater ambitions. Within 
recent years, however, an extremely instructive addition has 
been made to the theories relating to this engagement by a 
learned author who chooses to be known under the pen-name 
of ' Owen Rhoscomyl.' If we accept the suggestions thrown 
out by this writer it would seem that the real rendezvous of 
the allies was fixed in the Mortimer country at Ludlow — 
which was, of course, the seat of the Mortimers' power. Our 
authority adds : " From this place they were to march 
eastward into England to attack Henry with a view to 
placing the crown upon the head of the child Karl of 
March." 

It is clear that, for this juncture to be safely effected, it was 
desirable for Glyndwr to make the country behind as safe as 
possible. It would have been madness to have withdrawn his 
troops from Wales in an easterly direction if he had left 
behind him all the retainers and men-at-arms of his enemies 
the marcher lords, ready and able to fall upon his now defence- 
less possessions. He would have had no safe base upon which 
to fall in the event of a temporary check or defeat. 

In consequence of such considerations it does seem at least 
probable that Owain had a definite politic purpose in his 
harrying of South Wales. While Hotspur was hurrying down 
to Cheshire Owain was carrying fire and sword throughout 
the south. He had not, however, been forgetful of his ally. 
Many of his Welsh followers had been directed to join Hot- 
spur's forces in Cheshire. As a result of these and other 

379 



HISTORY OF WALES 

additions to his ranks, Hotspur, who was ever a better man 
in the battlefield than in the council-chamber, seems to have 
determined to accomplish the overthrow of Henry single- 
handed. He certainly struck out east, completely off the line 
of march he should have taken had it been his purpose to join 
his allies. It was not, indeed, until he found that the men of 
the Midlands were not hurrying to his standard like the men 
of Cheshire that he decided to attempt the juncture originally 
planned. Now, however, it was too late. 

All this, of course, had happened without the knowledge 
either of Mortimer or of Owain. The latter, meanwhile, had 
turned back from ravaging the south. Having hurried north 
to lyudlow in order to effect the meeting as arranged, it was 
then that he must have heard of Hotspur's change of plans 
and of his retreat on Shrewsbury. The Welsh leader, instantly 
perceiving that if Hotspur were caught by Henry before the 
allies had joined forces the whole campaign would end in 
disastrous defeat, hurried his men up north by forced marches. 
Delayed as he must have been by the weather — for it had 
been very stormy and wet and the floods were out — he arrived 
too late to save Hotspur. 

So far we have followed ' Owen Rhoscomyl's ' view of 
Glyndwr's action. That Owain probably had a reason, and 
a politic reason, for his harrying of the South Wales marcher 
lands is probable ; that Hotspur turned east when, to effect 
an immediate juncture, he should have turned west, that 
Hotspur gained many more adherents in Cheshire than in the 
Midland counties, is known. It is not, however, certain that 
Ludlow was to be the meeting-place, though it is a very 
probable and convenient centre for operations. Again, it is 
not very clear why Glyndwr took so long in marching from 
South to North Wales. Accepting ' Owen Rhoscomyl's ' 
statement that " Owain turned back from St. Clear's not 
earlier than July 12," we find that the Welsh leader took 
some eleven days to reach Shrewsbury. The distance is not 
great, and even assuming that there was trouble with the 
floods, this seems far too long a time. Owain, of course, 
380 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

may have been relying on meeting his ally at I^udlow, but 
we must assume that the two forces were keeping in touch 
with one another to some extent. If we assume that Owain 
was quite ignorant of Hotspur's movements and relied on the 
lyudlow meeting, then indeed he cannot be blamed for the failure 
to meet. Hotspur must be adjudged guilty of that blunder. 

There is another and more serious difficulty, however. 
Glyndwr was at Oswestry, which is considerably to the north 
of Shrewsbury, while the battle was being fought between 
Shrewsbury and Oswestry. Even if we admit that Glyndwr 
was so circumstanced that it was impossible for him to aid 
his ally, it is extremely difficult to see why he did not attack 
Henry after the battle. His followers, if joined to the remnant 
of the northern army, were twice as numerous as Henry's 
entire force, Henry's men were exhausted by a fierce and 
bloody engagement ; Mortimer's army was untouched ; 
Northumberland was hurrying southward by forced marches 
to the support of the allies.^ Everything seems to have pointed 
to the necessity for instant action. The scattered armies of 
the allies might have been combined and flung against the 
king. But Owain failed to act. It was the great blunder of 
his life and the turning-point of his career. Henceonward 
his star was on the decline, until at last it set in gloom as deep 
as ever enclouded the last days of a brave man's life. 

After the defeat at Shrewsbury Glyndwr seems to have 
done little to further the plot to place young Mortimer on the 
throne. He returned once more to his marauding attacks. 

We must return, however, for a moment to the consideration 
of Owain's earlier South Wales campaign. In the beginning 
of 1403 the young Henry of Monmouth was made lyieutenant 
of Wales, and although but fifteen years of age at the time, 
he quickly showed of what mettle he was made by burning 
Sycharth and ravaging the territory around Owain's family 
demesne. Owain more than retaliated by a merciless devas- 
tation of South Wales. The keepers of castles are found 
writing in great haste to the king for immediate aid. Thus 

1 He was turned back, however, by Westmorland. 

381 



HISTORY OF WALES 

we have the constable of Dynevor sending the following letter 
" in haste and in dread " : 

" Dure frende i do zow to wetyn that Oweyn Glyndour 
Henri Don, Res Duy, Res ap Gr. ap lylewelyn, Res Gethin, 
han ywon the town of Kermerdyn, and Wygmor constable of 
the Castell hadd yzeld op the Castell of Kermerdyn to 
Oweyn ; and han ybrend the Town, and yslay of men of 
town mor than 1. men ; and thei budd yn [be in] purpos to 
Kedweli ; and a Seche [siege] ys y ordeynyd at the Castell 
that i kepe, and that ys gret peril for me, and al that buth 
wydde ine ; for thai han y mad har [their] avow that thei 
well al gat haue owss [us] dede thryn. Wher for I prei zow 
that ze nul not bugil ous, that ze send to ous warning wyth yn 
schort time whether schull we have eny help or no ; and bot 
ther bn help comig that we have an answer, that we may 
come bi nizt and stell away to Brechnoc ; cause that we 
faylyth vitels and men, and namlich men. Also Jenkyn ap 
lyl. hath y zeld op the Castell of Emlyn wyth free wyll ; and 
al so William Gwyn, Thomas ap David ap Gruff' and moni 
gentils been yn person wyth Oweyn. Warning erof I prei 
that ze send me bi the berer of thus letter. Farydd well yn 
the nam of the Trinite. Y wryt at Dynevor, yn hast and yn 
dred, yn the fest of Seint Thomas the Martir. 

" Jankyn Hanard, 

" Constable de Dynevour." 

Many similar appeals from castellans and constables of 
castles for help against the dreaded Glyndwr could be quoted. 
To give but one more instance, we find William Venables 
and Roger Brescy writing to the king on the eve of the second 
assault of Caernarvon Castle by Owain Glyndwr and the 
French. 1 After stating that they send this letter by a woman 

1 The text of this letter is as follows : 

" Trespuissant et tresredoute Seigneur liege, nous nous recommandons 
a votre tressouvereigne Seigneur oue toutz maneres honeres et reverences. 
Et pleise a votre roial Magestee entendre que Robert Parys le puisne Cones- 
table du Chastell de Caernarvan nous ad certifee per un femme, a cause 
qil navoit homme ascun qi osa venir, ne homme ne femrae null ose ascun 
382 







O 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

because no man dare bear it for fear of Owain Glyndwr and 
his men, the letter proceeds to relate that Owain is preparing 
with the aid of the French to attack Caernarvon Castle with 
engines, sows (similar to the Roman vinea), and ladders of 
great length, that the garrison is too small to withstand the 
attack, many having been lost in previous struggles or by 
disease, and pleads for immediate aid. 

The French who are referred to in this last letter were 
Owain's French allies, who began to join him in 1404, and 
consequently this letter does not belong to the 1403 campaign. 
It is very typical, however, of the state of terror which Owain's 
presence frequently inspired. As we have said, the French 
did not commence to send aid to Owain until 1404. There is 
reason to believe that about this time there was a well-developed 
plan in existence for the invasion of England by France. A 
league with France was signed by Owain's ambassadors, John 
Hanmer and Griffith Yonge, in Paris on June 14, 1404. It 
was not ratified by Owain, however, until January 1405. 
About the same time Owain had obtained the support of the 
Pope, and Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, seems to have thought 
that Owain's bid for power would prove successful, for he is 
found revolting from Henry and joining the forces of the Welsh 
leader. 

The French, meanwhile, had not been inactive. A fleet of 

lettre porter pour les rebelles Gales qe Oweyn de Glyndour ouesque les 
Fraunceys et tout son autre poair se taillent d'assailler les Ville et Chastell 
de Caernarvan, et a commencer le jour de la fesance dicestes ovec esgynes, 
sowes, et laddres de tresgrand longure, et ne sont mie deinz mesmes les 
Ville et Chastell en tout outre xxviij. hommes defensibles, q'est trop petit 
force, qar y sont xj. de les meillors hommes qestoient la dedeinz al darrein 
assege illeoques fait ore mortz, ascuns des plaies qils avoient a temps d'assaut 
a eux fait, et ascuns de pestilence, siq les ditz Chastell et Ville sont en grand 
peril sicome le portor dicestes vous savera enformer par bouche, a qi pleise 
a votre hautesse doner ferme foi et credence, qar il sciet vous enformer de 
tout la veritee. "Eit luy toutpouissant Dieux vous ottrois, notre tresredoute 
Seigneur liege, prosperitee et bon exploit entres touz voz affairs. Et pleise 
a votre hautesse regarder un lettre enclos dedeinz cestes quele Reignald 
de Baildon un des Gardeius de la Ville de Conewey nous envoia huy ce jour, 
touchant lestat de votre Seignorie de Northgales. Escr. a Cestre la xvj. 
jour de Januer. 

" Voz poueres lieges, 

" WlI<I<TAM VENABI,ES DE KYNDERTON AND ROG. BrESCY." 



HISTORY OF WALES 

considerable size had set sail, intending to join forces with 
Owain, but it got no farther than the Isle of Wight, and for 
the moment French aid had to be dispensed with. 

Owain, nothing daunted by this reverse to his allies, was 
successful in inflicting a severe loss upon the English. Richard 
Beauchamp had attacked and defeated the Welsh leader, and 
the English were in high glee at the rare achievement. Owain, 
however, gathering his forces together, hurried after the 
victors and flung himself against them with disastrous results 
to his enemies. This victory was followed up by the capture 
of Harlech and Aberystwyth Castles. 

Owain's Decline 

The year 1405 was a black one for Glyndwr. It had opened 
with an abortive attempt on the part of Constance I^ady 
Despenser, a sister of the Duke of York, to obtain the escape 
of the young Earl of March and his brother, A locksmith was 
bribed, keys were made, the young prisoners were freed, and i 
their fair rescuer hurried them north and west, hoping for = 
asylum in Glyndwr's mountain retreats. The fugitives, how- 
ever, were overtaken, I^ady Despenser and her charges were 
imprisoned, the locksmith lost his hands. 

The next misfortune happened in March, when 8000 of 
Glyndwr's followers were overwhelmed by Sir Gilbert Talbot, 
Sir William Newport, and Sir John Greindre in South Wales, 
in that engagement an account of which is preserved to us in 
the very admirable letter from Henry of Monmouth to his 
royal father ^ now preserved in the British Museum and 
printed in Sir John Ellis' second series of Original Letters. 
The loss to Owain in this battle was considerable, some 800- 
1000 of his men fell, and his prestige received a severe check. 
Glyndwr attempted to remedy the defeat by sending his son 

1 Henry of Monmouth is generally credited with having spent a boisterous, 
if not an actually vicious, youth. His letters to his father show, however, 
that he was not the light character some would have us beUeve. Mr. Solly 
Flood has, indeed, clearly established that the young Henry was by no means 
the fooUsh companion of such men as Falstaff. 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

with another army to retrieve his failing fortune. On March 15 
the battle at Mynydd y PwU Melyn, in Brecknockshire, was 
fought. Again the Welsh were defeated. Fifteen hundred men 
were captured or slain. Owain's son was one of the captives and 
his brother Tewdwr one of the dead. For a time the Welsh were 
paralysed, for it was feared that Glyndwr himself had fallen. 
The mistake arose through Tewdwr' s remarkable resemblance 
to him. It was not, indeed, until some one recognized that 
the mole which Owain had over one eye was missing on the 
face of the dead man that their worst fears were allayed. Even 
as it was, however, the reverse was a serious one, and according 
to Holinshed the position of Owain was rendered yet more 
difficult by another repulse in May. Whether this engage- 
ment was ever fought is, indeed, doubted by Pennant, but it is 
clear that Owain's fortunes were declining, for Glamorganshire 
submitted to Henry, and Glyndwr himself is found as a 
fugitive living in caves and desert places. A cavern by the sea 
near lylangelyniu for long bore the name of Ogof Owain, for 
tradition has it that here Ednyfed ap Aaron of the tribe of 
Ednowain ap Bradwen supported his leader, Glyndwr, during 
this evil time. 

It was during this period of small happenings that Charles VI 
of France sent substantial aid to his Welsh ally. A force of 
800 men-at-arms, 600 cross-bowmen, and 1200 foot-soldiers set 
sail, under the command of Aubert de Hangest, Sire de Hugue- 
ville, and landed at Milford Haven. The invaders marched on 
Caermarthen, which capitulated, laid unsuccessful siege to 
Haverfordwest, and eventually joined forces with Glyndwr at 
Tenby. The combined army now numbered not less than 
10,000 men, and consequently it was determined to attack the 
English border counties. Worcester was eventually reached 
after a hurried march through Glamorganshire, and its out- 
lying parts were fired. In the meantime the French fleet 
had been attacked and many ships destroyed, and an auxiliary 
fleet bringing supplies scattered. 

The English king now determined to march against the 
Welsh-French combination in person. The two armies met 

2B 385 



HISTORY OF WALES 

near Woodbury Hill, not far from Worcester. No fighting 
took place, though the opposing forces were facing one another 
for eight days. The French commander had taken up a 
strong position and refused to be drawn. Henry, on the other 
hand, contented himself with cutting off food supplies, sending 
a few of his more ardent knights to wage personal combat 
with cavaliers from the other side so that the French might 
not become impatient. These tactics were successful. De 
Hugueville found his position untenable and beat a retreat 
under cover of night into Wales. Henry started in pursuit, 
but found progress through the deserted and barren country 
impossible. He retired with the loss of much baggage. 

The French seem to have decided to render no further aid 
to Glyndwr, and their forces set sail for France in the spring 
of 1406. Glyndwr was now reduced to the position of a mere 
marauder. He had not, however, given up all his high 
ambitions. In a letter to Charles VI he is still found to be 
aiming at the restoration of Welsh independence ; and it is 
evident that he still hoped to separate the Welsh from the 
English Church, and to establish two Welsh universities in which 
the progressive spirit which had already infused new life into the 
literature of the country could find expression and direction. 

Owain Glyndwr, though about to decline into a hapless 
condition, was still the man of affairs. It is probable that he 
was in touch with Scotland as well as with France. The Scotch 
power had, however, been broken and that alliance was useless 
to him. Glyndwr was not the man to surrender his cherished 
ambitions without a struggle. He was still in the prime of 
life, though the seal which has been preserved to us shows 
him as a man well advanced in years ; he was as yet not com- 
pletely deserted by his French allies, who sent him some slight 
support in this present year. The greatest weakness of his 
position lay, however, in the nature of the rising. He had 
been the leader of the peasants. His followers were not 
mercenaries. The pay they got was not in money, but by 
way of redress of grievances and revenge. They must have 
lived on plunder and the ravaging of the marcher lands. Such 
386 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

a rising naturally must have been short-lived. Glyndwr had 
already succeeded in keeping the support of his followers for 
four years. During that time the marcher lords had received 
a rude lesson and had been shown that oppression was a 
dangerous weapon. The peasants, on the other hand, had 
tired of a warfare which now had little reason in it so far as 
they could see. Owain's great schemes for a new, rejuvenated 
Wales, free as to territory, religion, and education, were beyond 
them. They looked to their immediate needs and immediate 
wants and immediate sufferings ; and, so looking, deserted their 
leader. Glamorganshire had already submitted to the king in 
1405. Barly in 1406 the people of Ystrad Tywi passed over 
from the Welsh side. In the north and in Anglesey Owain was 
still able to support some show of princely power, but the 
royal arm was beginning to reach even to Anglesey. 

lylanbedr and Harlech were not lost to him until 1409, but the 
Earl of Northumberland, who had earlier sought refuge with 
Glyndwr, realized that the Welsh leader was too weak to 
protect him and left Wales. Owain, for his part, was driven 
to take refuge in the mountains, from whence he levied a 
guerrilla warfare upon the surrounding lands. The year 1408 
was quite uneventful, but in 1409 attacks of some magnitude 
were made on the marches. In these raids Edward de 
Charlton of Powys suffered most severely. It was found 
sufficient, however, to issue orders calUng upon the greater 
landowners to garrison their castles and to collect their forces. 
It was during one of these raids — this time directed against 
Shropshire — that Owain lost two of his most faithful lieutenants 
in the persons of Rhys Ddu and Philip Scudamore, who were 
caught by the English. Both were sent to the Tower and 
executed, Rhys being drawn on a hurdle to Tyburn. 

In the autumn of this year Owain was again active. So 
great was the loss suffered by the marchers that some entered 
into a truce with the Welsh leader. It was not, however, 
coimtenanced by the English Government, and the marchers 
were peremptorily commanded to renew the struggle. This 
they did successfully, so that Glyndwr was driven once more 

387 



HISTORY OF WALES 

to the hills. Owain now experienced a further loss of sup- 
porters. His followers gradually dwindled, and although he 
was still a force to be reckoned with, he was unable to trouble 
his enemies during the years following. Pardons had been 
readily granted by Henry of Monmouth to the Welsh rebels 
around Coleshill, and the country was rapidly settling down 
once more into a condition of tranquillity. 

The later years of Owain's life are wrapped in obscurity. 
In 1413 Henry IV had been succeeded by his son Henry of 
Monmouth. At this time Glyndwr had been reduced to the 
condition of a wanderer among the mountains of the north. 
His followers had largely deserted him, won over by the 
promises of pardon held out to them by Hugh Huls, or Holes, 
Baron of the Exchequer, and Chief Justice Hankford, who had 
been sent by Henry V to North Wales to inquire into the 
conduct and pardon of rebels who were prepared to submit 
and pay an appropriate fine in lieu of escheat. By the end of 
that year the country was quiet, and such confidence had 
Henry in the settled state of Wales that we find a Welshman, 
Rhys ap Thomas, appointed Steward of Cardigan. Castles 
were rebuilt and the country returned to a state of peace. 
As Mr. Wylie has said in his work on Henry V : ^ " The general 
pacification of the country is strongly evidenced by the 
employment of many Welshmen in positions of trust under 
the English Government, and it is significant to find many 
Welsh squires as well as 500 archers from South Wales with 
genuine Welsh names fighting side by side with Englishmen 
at Agincourt, though there is also evidence that some Welsh 
gentlemen fought with the French on the opposite side. 

" It may be argued that this is only a proof of Welsh adapt- 
ability ; and, indeed, it is expressly recorded by a compatriot 
that when they saw their cause was lost they took to living 
like Englishmen. They tilled the ground, moved into towns, 
made money and kept it, rode in hauberks, wore shoes, slept 
under blankets, and tried to pass as English rather than as 
Welsh. Thus money broke them down, and the fear of losing 

^ The first volume, published 1914. 
388 



OWAIN GLYNDWR 

what they had ; for it is only the haveless that can afford to be 
dreadless, and only the empty wayfarer that can whistle in 
the face of the robber." 

Owain's career was now, indeed, nearly at an end. Roaming 
about the Berwyns, deserted by all save a few faithful followers, 
he was told by the abbot of Valle Crucis Abbey, who met him 
one day wandering forlornly among the scenes of his youth, 
near the ruins of Sycharth, that he had risen a century too 
soon. The prophecy that a Welshman would one day sit 
on the throne of England evidently was not to apply to 
him. He who had once been the hero of his country was 
now reduced to wearing the clothes of a labourer, so that 
with sickle in hand he might escape recognition and capture. 
Poor and almost friendless, he had to look back on a life 
full of noble purpose which yet had failed to reach the 
goal so long attempted. In the struggle he had lost all save 
honour. His lands had gone, his home, one time the centre 
of hospitality, was a burnt-out ruin. All his sons had been 
captured or had perished, save only Maredudd, who now 
shared his downfall. It may be that his daughters were still 
living, but one of them, Catherine, the widow of Edmund 
Mortimer, together with her three little daughters, had been 
captured when Harlech fell in 1409. All of these died in 
lyondon before 1414, and were buried in St. Swithin's Church, 
in Candlewick Street. 

But if Owain had lost his lands, his children, and his 
followers, he had not lost all his former spirit, for though 
Gilbert Talbot was authorized to negotiate a pardon with him 
as late as 1415, the old hero, who had thought to make of his 
people a free and enlightened nation, refused to come to terms. 
He died soon afterward, worn out with want and exposure. He 
was buried at night, and no one knows where his grave is. 

Glyndwr was dead. Whether his poor corpse lay in the 
earth at Bangor or at Monnington or at Kenchurch, or whether 
it was covered by leaves in the woods of Glamorganshire, he 
was dead, and no longer could men look to him as a national 
champion who could lead them to freedom. But though 

389 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Glyndwr was dead his deeds still lived. He had befriended the 
poor and the peasants. He had won for them what, leaderless, 
they would never have gained. He had struggled hard to give 
his country freedom and the priceless gift of learning. He had 
shown himself a single-hearted patriot. He had sacrificed his 
fortune, his children, his life in the struggle. His reward and 
his only reward is a place in the hearts of Welshmen unoccupied 
by any other name in Welsh history. We can truly say with 
Gruffydd Llwyd, though five centuries have passed since he 
wrote : 

Thy high renown shall never fail, 
Owain Glyndwr. 



390 



CHAPTER XXII 
WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

lyi T the beginning of the period of which we are now 
/\ treating the Welsh had but lately put down their arms^ 
A \, which for years, under the leadership of Glyndwr, 
they had raised against England. Glyndwr, actuated by 
the highest motives, had pursued the policy of Owain 
of France, had allied himself to the French king, and had 
looked to French aid to release him and his country from 
chains forged by England. At the end of the period we find 
Welshmen fighting bravely by the side of England and France 
in the battlefields of Belgium. So spins the whirligig of 
Time. From the death of Owain Glyndwr to the great 
European War there stretch the movements of centuries. In 
those years Welshmen have done famous deeds the world 
over. They have fought for King Harry of England against 
France — many a Welshman laid down his life on the field of 
Agincourt ; their bowmen went far to make us the premier 
fighting race in Europe in the early fifteenth centuryTTjJWelsh- 
men fought on both sides in the Wars of the Roses. A 
dynastic struggle headed by the Mortimers, and at the end, 
on the other side, by the Tudors, could hardly fail to interest 
and excite the Principality. As every Welshman knows, 
Edward IV, the leader of the Yorkists, was a Mortimer, and 
was descended from I^lywelyn the Great through that Gwladys 
who married Ralph Mortimer. Henry VII, on the other 
hand, was a descendant of Owen Tudor of Anglesey. Again, 
with Welsh Henry and the Tudors came those changes which 
saw the fall of an aristocracy and the rise of a monarchy 
wisely tolerating and apparently bending before the people in 



HISTORY OF WALES 

their Parliament assembled. This era it was which saw the 
Rule of lyaw beginning to be firmly established. For Wales 
it saw the seigneurial jurisdictions crushed ; it saw the Council 
of the Marches developed and strengthened. Under Bishop 
I/ce it saw lawlessness ruthlessly put down ; under the firm 
hand of Thomas Cromwell it saw disorder checked and trade 
encouraged. Toward the end of the Tudor period the world 
saw the eyes of north-western Europe turning from Rome. 
The Renaissance, bringing to man the fruits of knowledge, 
caused him to cast away the husks of creed. Again Wales 
took her part. For many reasons the waves of this mighty 
movement had been late in reaching her shore, and Wales 
remained Catholic for years after England had turned Protes- 
tant ; but when the Bible was translated into Welsh by such 
men as Salesbury and Bishop Morgan and had been distributed 
widely by the munificence of Myddleton the Puritan spirit 
began to gather in force, and although it developed too late 
to prevent Wales attaching herself in the main to the 
Royalist party in the great struggle of the Civil War, it grew 
in time into that austere Nonconformity which in the 
eighteenth century did much to cleanse Wales of serious 
abuses, and certainly was effective in preserving the 
Welsh language from the fate which has overtaken Old 
Cornish^i^ 

1 When we remember that to all these important movements, 
events, and facts we must add the presence in English history 
of the names of many great Welshmen ; when we remember 
that this period saw the political and de facto union of England 
and Wales, the growth of Welsh representation in Parliament 
— and at least one English Premier, in the person of Robert 
Harley, Earl of Oxford, who sat for Radnor for twenty years, 
is to be numbered among the Welsh members — we must 
agree that this long period of history cannot be treated 
adequately or even adumbrated in one chapter. It is, indeed, 
because from, at latest, the Act of Union of 1535 Wales merges 
more and more in England and Welsh history becomes 
inextricably intermingled with English history that we have 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

dared to dismiss these long and important years in a few 
pages of this book. / 

War and Lawlessness 

]The hundred and twenty years which separate the death of 
Glyndwr from the Act of Union were sad years for Wales. 
Bereft of their leaders, the people became a nation of peasants. 
Iviterature declined and wore a rougher garb, the nation was 
poor and prostrate before the lords marchers, though, it is 
true, the lessons of the peasants' revolt under Glyndwr had 
beneficial results for the tiller of the soil. Lawlessness was 
rampant, outlawry and the harbouring of thieves and mur- 
derers were common. On the other hand, in the towns trade 
increased and Welshmen began to grow rich. The seigneurial 
jurisdictions had, however, great power and gave rise to grave 
abuses. Thousands of Welshmen, despairing of a free life in 
their native country, turned eagerly to the French wars to 
enable them to earn liberty and honour and a fair wage as 
the price of their lives. It is not, however, until the Wars 
of the Roses that Wales is again found taking an important 
part in any great national movement."] 

As Miss Skeel has told us, " During" the Wars of the Roses 
the power of the rival claimants to the throne lay in Wales 
and the marches. From the great Mortimer estates, whose 
centre was lyudlow, the Duke of York drew his armies, while 
the west of Wales, from Pembroke to Anglesey, was strongly 
lyancastrian. For a generation the dreary dynastic struggle 
continued, reducing divided Wales to utter misery, till at last 
the Welshman Henry Tudor defeated the heir of the Mortimers 
on Bosworth Field." It is not our purpose to inflict upon the 
reader an account of the many and bloody battles which were 
fought in the course of this great civil war, and which, by 
reducing the power and number of the old nobility, paved the 
way for Tudor greatness and the Rule of Law. Since, how- 
ever, the appearance of Henry Tudor on the English throne 
had a considerable effect on Welsh history, we will trace out 
the steps which sent him an exile to France and brought him 

393 



HISTORY OF WALES 

back through Wales and supported by Welshmen to wear the 
crown taken from the dead Richard at Bosworth. 

Henry VII was the son of Edmund, Earl of Richmond, and 
grandson of Owen Tudor, who, though but a private gentleman 
of Anglesey, was of princely descent and had married Henry V's 
widow, Catherine of France. Edmund had also made an 
important alliance, having married Margaret Beaufort, heiress 
of John of Gaunt. Edmund died while the child Henry was 
yet an infant, leaving him the ward of his uncle, Jasper Tudor, 
Earl of Pembroke, Owen Tudor was taken and beheaded 
after the Lancastrian defeat at Mortimer's Cross, and the 
young Henry Tudor was captured by Herbert after the fall of 
Harlech Castle, a stronghold which held out last of all the 
I^ancastrian castles. It is supposed that during this siege the 
Welsh national song, " The March of the Men of Harlech," was 
composed. ? 

The tide turned in the year following (1469), when Herbert 
was beheaded after Edgecote and Jasper Tudor rescued his ward 
from Herbert's castle of Raglan. The child Henry was as yet but 
second among the hopes of the I^ancastrians, but when Prince 
Edward was murdered at Tewkesbury Henry became heir to 
the Red Rose cause. The defeat at Tewkesbury made it 
necessary for him to seek safety abroad, and so we find him 
smuggled by Jasper from Pembroke, to be carried by ill winds 
to Brittany. 

It was not until some fourteen years later that the youthful 
claimant with the still faithful Jasper sailed from Harfleur 
for Wales again. They landed on the coast of Pembroke- 
shire. Their reception was by no means cheering. Herbert 
hung back, and Rhys ap Thomas for the moment appeared 
more ready to bargain than to aid. Finally, however, 
this wealthy leader of the South Wales peoples extracted 
sufficient promises from Henry and definitely threw in his 
lot with the Tudors, Richard Gruffydd also came forward, and 
as Henry passed through Mach5ailleth, Newtown, and Welsh- 
pool to Shrewsbury his following gradually increased. Shrews- 
bury itself, after some hesitation, threw open its gates. When 

394 




o 



N 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

at last Henry and Richard were about to meet, Sir William 
Stanley, who had long been a doubtful quantity, joined 
forces with Henry. The direct result of the fight is known to 
all. Richard was slain wearing the crown which at the end of 
the day lyord Stanley placed on Henry's brow. The indirect 
result was the end of anarchy and the commencement of the 
Rule of Law, and, for Wales, union with England and the 
decline of lawlessness. 

Union and Law 

/It has sometimes been stated that in view of the aid which 
Henry VII derived from Wales, of his Welsh blood and Welsh 
friendships, this first of the Tudors did little for his native 
country. It is difficult, however, to see how, as King of 
England, occupying a somewhat shaky throne, he could have 
done more. He and his immediate successors, though they 
united Wales to England, gave the Welsh the political advan- 
tages of Englishmen ; they fostered Welsh trade, they attacked 
the seigneurial jurisdictions and strove to put down lawless- 
ness. Perhaps the greatest good which Henry did for Wales 
was the establishment of the Council of Wales and the Marches, 
although we hardly agree with Mr. H. T. Evans when he says 
that " the establishment of this Court . . , practically sums 
up the work of Henry VII on behalf of Wales."? 

According to Miss Skeel,^ this council arose out of the 
Prince's Council which had existed ever since the time of the 
first English Prince of Wales for the purpose of administering 
his estates. As such, of course, it had originally no authority 
in the marches. This had been given it from time to time by 
commissions, and marcher jurisdiction was facilitated by the 
fact that Edward IV, a Mortimer, was at once king of Eng- 
land and the most important marcher lord. At first it was 
a temporary council sitting at Shrewsbury. It was made 
permanent and its jurisdiction was extended and its place of 
meeting fixed at Ludlow in the reign of Henry VII. An Act 

^ We have frequently consulted Dr. Skeel's The Council of the Marches 
of Wales, as being the best of the recent studies on this important court. 

395 



HISTORY OF WALES 

of 1543 gave it a statutory basis, and in Henry VIII's time 
its members were the Lord President, the Chief Justice of 
Chester, and three justices of Wales, together with certain 
co-opted members who were chosen by the Lord President, 
and who were required to possess the quahfication of knowing 
law. 

The Council possessed very wide jurisdiction. Its procedure 
was a mixture of the Star Chamber system by question and 
the Chancery practice. It had the power to subject suspected 
felons to torture. 

It was under the presidency of Rowland Lee (1534-43) 
that this court reached its greatest power. Lee was possessed 
of some of the savagery of the later Jeffreys, and is credited 
with having hanged 5000 men in six months. We find him 
writing as follows at the commencement of his labours : "I 
intend after Easter to stop for a month at Presteigne among 
the thickest of the thieves, and shall do the king such service 
as the strongest of them shall be afraid to do." Nine years 
later he was still chasing outlaws and hanging thieves, but 
his rigour had its effect. ^ Wales gradually settled down, 
gave up the " routs and confederacies" of which complaints 
had been made from the Statute of Gloucester in 1378 onward, 
disgorged its gangs of cut- throat outlaws, and turned from 
open theft to buying and selling. The Welsh ceased to be 
brigands and became citizens. 

We thus see that the Council of Wales and the Marches, 
which lingered on until 1689, was in its early years doing 
good service. It was stamping out lawlessness. Its work 
was aided and Wales was drawn nearer to England by the 
Act of Union of 1535. This Act, which has been truly 
described as one of the most important statutes in Welsh 
history, was the work of Thomas Cromwell. In the words of 
the preamble, it provided that " Wales shal be stonde and 
contynue for ever fromhensforthe incorporated united and 
annexed to and with this Realme of Englande ; and that all 

^ A curious result, we may say, for nothing is more evident than the fact 
that, as a rule, crime increases as rigour of punishment increases. 
396 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

and singular psonne and psonnes borne and to be borne in 
the said Principalitie Countrey or Dominion of Wales, shall 
have enjoye and inherite all and singular fredomes libties 
rightes privileges and lawes within this Realme and other the 
Kynges Dominions as other the Kinges Subjects naturally 
borne within the same." In particular the old Welsh law of 
inheritance was abolished (save that lands in Wales remained 
partable) , primogeniture was established, English law applied 
equally to both countries. The lordship marches were annexed 
to the newly created shires of Monmouthshire, Brecknock- 
shire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, and Denbighshire, and 
several of the older Welsh counties were increased in size. 
Seven years later the counties were divided into hundreds 
and the English local government system was established. The 
administration of justice in Wales was also developed on the 
English plan, though worthy customs of Wales were preserved. 
All courts were ordered to be kept in the English tongue, and 
all officers were required to speak English. The English 
circuit system was not, however, extended to Wales, for 
Henry VIII gave the Principality its own High Court of 
Justice, the ' King's Great Sessions,' which was not abolished 
until 1830. Finally, and mainly, the Act of Union gave 
Wales adequate representation in Parliament : one knight 
from each shire and one burgess from each shire-town 
(except Merioneth). Monmouthshire had two knights as 
shire members. In 1542 Haverfordwest was made a county 
and given one member. 

It must not, of course, be thought that Wales now for the 
first time sent members to the English Parliament. We have 
a writ, De Wallensibus ad Parliamentum apud Ehonim venire 
faciendis, dated April 18, 15 Ed. II, addressed to Arundel, 
Justiciary of Wales, directing the return of twenty-four 
members from North and South Wales to the Parliament to 
be held at York on May 2, 1322, and although the returns to 
this writ have been lost it is probable that the members were 
in fact returned. Again, we have another writ dated Janu- 
ary 8, 1327, to which there was a return. After that, however, 

397 



HISTORY OF WALES 

there is a hiatus until the Act of Union. From 1536 ^ Welsh 
representation was as continuous as English, except for a 
break at the time of the Civil War. In 1832 the number of 
Welsh members was increased from twenty-seven to thirty- 
two, and a further increase of one member was made in both 
1867 and 1885. Welsh representation has been noted for the 
continuity of representation by particular houses, especially the 
Herberts and the Wynns. It is only within recent years that 
Welsh constituencies have been captured by non-Welshmen. 

The coming of the Tudors is thus seen to have advanced 
perceptibly the political history of Wales. In another direc- 
tion, however, the Principality still lagged behind her eastern 
neighbour. Wales was sunk in ignorance. As Mr. Evans ^ 
tells us, " The breach between lord and peasant which began 
on the accession of the Tudors . . . became more pronounced 
with the Act of Union." The English court called the nobles 
and landed classes of Wales from their fastnesses ; they left 
the peasants to shift for themselves ; they left the clergy in 
an age of patrons patronless ; they ignored the bard and 
forgot the language the native poets knew. The result was a 
drunken, ignorant, immoral clergy, a peasant literature, and 
a poor peasantry. But even in this direction the light was 
breaking. 

The Renaissance 

It is possibly an anachronism to speak of the Welsh Renais- 
sance before the Civil War. The latter, however, we can 
date between definite years ; the former spreads over centuries, 
and certainly commenced in one direction in the Tudor period. 
It has its roots, indeed, in times far earlier, even in the years 
when Vacarius was lecturing at Oxford. Thus, although it 
had no great effect upon Welsh thought until well on into 
the seventeenth century, we will consider it before touching 
upon the Civil War. 

1 The retxirns to the wtits have been lost from 1536 to 1541. We follow 
W. R. Williams' Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales. 
* H. T. Elvans, History of England and Wales, vol. ii. 

i 




Plate L,V. Humphrey I^lwyd 398 

From the picture in the possession of Major-General Sir Francis Lloyd, 
and reproduced with his permission 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

In the majestic march of human affairs there come at 
times moments when mankind leaps forward. The Renais- 
sance, which had long been preparing, even before Constanti- 
nople fell, was one of these great periods. It burst in full 
glory upon different nations at different times. England 
was dazzled by the splendours which a new knowledge of 
Greek had opened up as early as the fifteenth century. 
Richard Croke was teaching Greek at lyouvain before his 
return to Cambridge in 1518, Wales, on the other hand, was 
still buried in ignorance in Tudor times.^ Indeed, the Rev. 
Meredith Morris in his pleasing Renaissance of Welsh Literature 
has said : " The history of Welsh literature viewed in its own 
light reveals nothing extraordinary or noteworthy from 
Dafydd ab Edmund (1450) down to Goronwy Owen (1750), 
either in prose or in poetry, if we except, of course, the 
vernacular version of the Scriptures and some half a dozen or 
so classics." Apart from literature, Wales was steeped in 
superstition and Welsh morals were regrettable. The religious 
movement which resulted in so many beneficial changes in 
England hardly touched Wales. It is true that the monasteries 
were swept away, but few schools were planted in their place, 
and although Dr. Hugh ap Rice (or Price) foimded Jesus 
College, Oxford, in 1571, it had little effect upon the general 
education of the Welsh people. Such grammar schools as were 
founded out of the plunder of the monasteries were so ordered 
that they were mainly useful to the English inhabitants of 
Wales and the well-to-do. Printing, which had been instru- 
mental in spreading the knowledge which the growing body of 
scholars in England and on the Continent were collecting, was 
hardly of any service to the Welsh-speaking people, for no 
printing-press existed in Wales until the eighteenth century. 
The first book printed in Welsh in Wales was Eglurhad 
Catechism Byrraf y Gymanfa, issued from the press set up at 
Trefhedyn, in Cardiganshire, and published in 1719. Previously 
Welsh books had been printed in I^ondon or (from 1685 

^ There were, of course, exceptions. Richard Recorde of Tenby was one 
of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers of the sixteenth century. 

399 



HISTORY OF WALES 

onward) in Shrewsbury. Set up thus by men not knowing the 
language, they were either hopelessly inaccurate or the author 
had to wait upon the printer — with the result that very few 
Welsh books were published anywhere before the middle of 
the eighteenth century.^ 

In this dark period of Welsh thought there were, however, 
a few bright stars. The translation of the New Testament 
by William Salesbury, and subsequently of the whole Bible by 
Bishops Morgan and Parry, aided by such men as Dr. Richard 
Davies, gave to the Welsh the greatest of books. Morgan's 
translation, indeed, had an effect even beyond the immediate 
religious result. His style, marked as it is, we are informed, 
by purity of diction, euphony, uniformity of dialect, and the 
use of language which the most unlearned could understand, 
marked a turning-point in Welsh literature more important 
by far than the Eisteddfod of Caerwys. Later on Vicar 
Prichard, the strong and eloquent preacher who has been 
referred to as "the Hogarth of the pen," gave his country- 
men another great gift when he wrote the Canwyll y Cymry. 
His style might be that of the peasant, but it was vigorous 
and not debased, and it caught the imagination of the 
people. 

As for religion, Wales, strangely enough, remained Catholic 
at heart long after England had become Protestant. During 
the changes under Mary and Elizabeth it would seem, indeed, 
that the Welsh were purely indifferent. The clergy had long 
ceased to have any grip upon the affections of the people. 
The higher clergy rarely lived in their dioceses, ^ and the 
lower were ignorant and dissolute. The people were given up 
to superstition. In time, however, Church government was 
cleansed, the bishoprics were adorned by such men as Morgan 
and Parry, and the lower clergy were gradually made more 
capable of performing their sacred functions. It has, however, 

^ Mr. Ballinger in a note sent to the Athencsum for March 5, 1915, has 
pointed out that a book in Welsh was printed in America in 1730. 

2 This appUes, perhaps, more to the early sixteenth century than to the 
latter half. Bishop BuUceley of Bangor (1541-52) was the first bishop for 
a hundred years or more to reside in his diocese. 

400 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

to be admitted that the Church of England has never shared 
largely in the affections of the Welsh nation. Until the 
eighteenth century the Welsh leaned toward Roman Catho- 
licism. From that time to this they have gradually become 
a nation of Nonconformists. 

The Civil War 

At the time of the Wars of the Roses, Wales, as we have 
seen, was nearly equally divided between the two contending 
parties. With the Puritan revolution against the absolutism 
and Roman Catholic tendency of the Stuarts it was different. 
Wales was entirely Royalist save for a small portion of South 
Pembroke. The reasons for this unity are not too apparent. 
Wales, of course, was Catholic at heart, but it was by no 
means intensely Catholic, There had been no Welsh Pilgrimage 
of Grace, and the Puritans, headed by such men as Vicar 
Prichard and Morgan lylwyd, were beginning to make headway. 
The aristocracy was, it is true, advancing in importance, and 
relied for that advancement upon the favour of the Knglish 
Government. But they were not mere courtiers, and such 
men as lyord Keeper Williams had all along advocated a 
policy of conciliation between king and Parliament. Even 
had the Welsh nobility favoured the Royalist cause it is not 
obvious why they should have carried with them the peasantry. 
They had largely neglected Wales ; they were already for- 
getting the Welsh tongue, which alone was known to the 
peasants ; they rarely traced their title directly from the 
ancient chiefs. The fact remains, however, that the Welsh 
nobles and the Welsh people were almost solidly Royalist, 
and throughout the struggle fought bravely and steadfastly 
against the Parliamentarians and the New Model army. 

Wales, indeed, played a great part in the war. Such men 
as the Marquis of Worcester, of Raglan Castle, who devoted 
his great resources in money and men to the Royalist cause, 
and Sir John Owen of Clenenau, the Earl of Carbery, Sir Henry 
Vaughan, the Bulkeleys and Mostjrns and Prices, rendered 
the greatest assistance. Even such as lyaugharne, Powel, 

2C 401 



HISTORY OF WALES 

and Poyer, who had been Parhamentarians, subsequently- 
changed sides when the disputes between Presbyterian and 
Independent arose, and caused Cromwell the acutest anxiety 
by holding his forces before Pembroke during a long and 
dreary siege. Besides men Wales gave to Charles a naturally 
strong and almost impregnable base. Behind the Dee and the 
Severn, commanded, as in the old struggles against the Normans, 
by Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford, the king looked to 
have a safe ground in which to raise troops for victory or to 
retire upon in case of defeat. At ihe very commencement of 
the campaign Charles marched to Shrewsbury, and was there 
joined by Mostyn and Salesbury leading some five thousand 
Welshmen. At the same time Sir John Owen was busy gather- 
ing more, while from Flintshire and Denbighshire new armies 
were gathering at Wrexham. 

It was in this same year (1642) that the Royalists, under 
lyord Herbert, gained their first victory by the taking of 
Cardiff Castle. Shortly afterward Charles, now strengthened 
by important Welsh reinforcements, turned from Shrewsbury 
to march on I^ondon. Of the campaign from the battle at 
Edgehill until the final overthrow of the Royalist party we 
do not intend to treat in any detail. After some successes 
against Sir Thomas Myddleton's castle at Chirk and near the 
Forest of Dean the Royalists suffered serious losses in 1643. 
Brereton and Myddleton, the latter one of the most energetic 
leaders on the Parliamentary side, captured stronghold after 
stronghold in North Wales with the aid of his siege artillery, 
an arm then almost unknown to the Welsh. Their victorious 
career was, however, checked by the arrival of Irish supports, 
who were in turn met and defeated by Sir Thomas Fairfax in 
the beginning of 1644. 

About the same time (January 1644) I,ord Carbery, having 
collected a considerable force in South Wales, prepared to 
attack the Parliamentarian stronghold of Pembroke. The 
attempt was unsuccessful, and lyaughame, at that time 
fighting against the Royalists, swept South-west Wales, 
capturing Haverfordwest, Tenby, Carew, and Carmarthen. 
402 




Plate LVI. O14VER CromweIvI,'s Seai,, showing five 
Wei^sh Quarterings 

The natural size is seen in the lower figure : the upper one 

is an enlarged reproduction 402 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

As a result of this blunder Carbery was replaced by Charles 
Gerard, who succeeded in retaking Carmarthen and Haver- 
fordwest and in reducing a number of other strongholds. But 
these successes were bitterly paid for, since Gerard's Irish levies 
ravaged the country and acted in such a manner toward the 
gentry of the south that the affection of the whole of South 
Wales for the Royalist cause was thoroughly shaken. 

In September of the same year the Royalists of North 
Wales were broken at the battle of Montgomery, which resulted 
in the capture of Montgomery Castle, the scattering of I^ang- 
daie's army, and the isolation of Shrewsbury. Gerard, mean- 
while, had marched to the assistance of Rupert. Laugharne 
seized the opportunity to capture Cardigan, which Gerard had 
taken the year before, but in 1645 Gerard had his revenge, 
defeating in turn Sir John Price, who had been made keeper 
of Montgomery Castle, at Ivlanidloes, Myddleton near Oswestry, 
and I/augharne at Newcastle Emlyn. The fruit of these vic- 
tories was the seizure of I^lanidloes, Haverfordwest, Cardigan, 
Carew, and Picton Castles. 

In spite of these successes Gerard's harsh treatment of the 
country through which he passed (friendly country, be it 
observed) lost more for Charles than his victories had gained. 
After the disastrous defeat at Naseby, when the king turned 
once more to Wales for recruits, he found the result of this 
false policy in an almost complete failure of the people to rally to 
his standard. Gerard was transferred from the command in 
South Wales to another, the disgrace being softened by the gift 
of a peerage. 

The evil, however, had been done. Welsh loyalty to the 
royal cause was shaken, and I^ord Astley,^ who succeeded 
to Gerard's command, was looked upon with little favour. 
The Welsh preferred their own leaders, and deserted Astley 
for the ' Peace Army ' which had gathered round Colonel 
Herbert. Meanwhile lyaugharne was clearing Pembrokeshire 
of the enemy. Carmarthen, Monmouth, Brecon, and New- 
castle Bmlyn all fell before the end of the year. 

1 Sir Jacob Astley was made Lord Astley in 1644. His title was not 
recognized by the Parliamentarians. 



HISTORY OF WALES 

The year following saw the breaking of the royal power in 
both North and South Wales. At the battle of Denbigh 
Colonel Michael Jones scattered the Irish mercenaries who 
were hastening from Anglesey to the relief of Chester, and 
thus greatly contributed to the reduction of that stronghold. 
With the fall of Chester the war in North Wales was practically 
limited to the reduction of the fortresses of Aberystwyth, 
Denbigh, and Harlech. In the south lyaugharne had suc- 
ceeded in scattering the forces raised by the Marquis of 
Worcester. In June of this year Carnarvon and Beaumaris 
were both taken from the Royalists. Ruthin had already 
capitulated. The first phase of the Civil War was over in 
South Wales when Raglan Castle surrendered on August 19, 
In the north the struggle dragged on a little longer. The 
few castles still resisting, however, eventually surrendered — 
Denbigh in October, and, last of all, as in the Wars of the 
Roses, Harlech in the March of 1647. 

The disputes between the Presbyterians and the Indepen- 
dents now resulted in that alliance between Presbyterian 
Parliamentarian and Catholic Royalist against the Indepen- 
dents which once more plunged Wales into civil war. 
Glamorgan was the first to revolt, stirred up by Judge Jenkins 
— ever famous for his reply to the threat of the Parliament 
to hang him. He flouted the House to its face, declaring that 
he would " hang with the Bible under one arm and Magna 
Carta under the other." The Independents had now to face 
new enemies. Besides the old leaders, they found ranged 
against them lyaugharne, Poyer, and Powel, all of whom had 
been prominent leaders in the Parliamentarian army, I^augh- 
arne being responsible, as we have seen, for many a Royalist 
defeat and the capture of many Royalist strongholds. In the 
north Sir John Owen had also succeeded in raising an army 
against the Independents. After some temporary success he was, 
however, defeated at Llandegai, taken prisoner, and condemned 
to death — a sentence which was never, in fact, carried out. 

Meanwhile, in the south matters had gone equally badly for 
the insurgents lyaugharne had been beaten by Horton at 
404 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

St. Fagan's in the May of 1648. Sir Nicholas Kemeys, who 
had fortified Chepstow, had fallen before the assault directed 
by Isaac Ewer. Oliver Cromwell was laying siege to Pembroke, 
in which Laugharne, Powel, and Poyer, with many gentlemen of 
quality, were preparing to fight out their fight to the very last. 
After a stubborn defence this stronghold submitted on July 11, 
and the three leaders were captured. It was decided that one 
alone should die, the choice to be made by lot drawn by a 
little child. Two pieces of paper upon which was written 
' God giveth life ' were prepared. To these was added a 
blank sheet. The blank sheet meant death, and it was 
drawn for Poyer. He was shot at Covent Garden. I^augharne 
and Powel were exiled. The army was supreme. 

It is extremely difficult to point to any great immediate 
result which the war had upon Wales. Eventually, of course, 
the destruction of the theory of Divine Right was as important 
to Wales as to England, but it would seem that for many 
years Wales kept aloof from the English movements in favour 
of Parliamentary government and constitutional and indi- 
vidual freedom of thought, of expression, and of action. In 
truth the Welsh were still in a state of torpor. How could 
they respond to the strains of Milton's Areopagitica when they 
had no native press ? In one direction, however, it may be 
that the Civil War had a direct and immediate effect. In so 
far as it developed and increased the Puritan spirit it aided 
those Welsh reformers who already in 1639 had laid the 
foundations of Welsh Nonconformity. 

The Nonconformists 

The Nonconformist movement in Wales commenced, we are 
told, with the church founded by William Wroth at Llanvaches 
in 1639. From that date to this present time the movement 
has steadily grown. At the commencement such men as 
Wroth, Erbury, and Cradock had a comparatively small 
effect upon the mass of the people. As the authors of The 
Welsh People state, " The work of these men and others 
(such as Vavasour Powell, Morgan Llwyd, Hugh Owen, and 



HISTORY OF WALES 

James Owen) during the seventeenth century seems to have 
been very largely confined to the English side of Welsh life — 
that is to say, to the towns and more Anglicized portions of 
the Principality. . . . The bulk of the Welsh-speaking popula- 
tion was untouched by their ministrations." 

The condition of the clergy of the Church of England in 
Wales was, however, calculated to drive the people to other 
spiritual advisers. The lower clergy were hopelessly under- 
paid, ill-educated, licentious, and lazy. The higher clergy 
were pluralists,^ neglected their duties, and spent most of their 
time in England. It was only the mental stupor into which 
the peasantry had fallen which delayed the more general 
spreading of the Nonconformist and Independent beliefs. 
With the passing of the seventeenth century, the increase of 
literature, the labours of such bodies as the Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge, the exertions of such men 
as James Owen, the foundation of lending libraries, and the 
development of a better educational system, the Welsh mind 
awoke once more. It was, however, a Dissenting Wales 
which emerged from the dark period that had engulfed it 
from the time when Owain Glyndwr laid down his sword. 
Their very language had been preserved to the Welsh by those 
stern Puritans, who persisted in preaching the belief that was 
in them in the language of their country, and in scattering the 
Bible and theological works in the Welsh language among 
the peasantry. In later times the development of the Sunday 
school also encouraged the use of the native tongue. Had it 
not been for these movements the Welsh language might have 
died out long ago, for after the Act of Union, and, indeed, 
before, the landed classes in the main regarded it as a disgrace 
to speak Welsh, the clergy were mainly English or English- 
speaking, and the schools taught English. In a word, all 
the educational leaders favoured English, which was also the 
official language. Only those Puritan leaders who used the 
Welsh language as a means of touching the heart and mind of 

1 For a most outrageous example see the account of the livings held by 
the I,uxmoore family in Clarke's History of the Church in Wales, p. 142. 
406 




Pirate L,VIII. The Investiture of the Prince of Waives 
AT Carnarvon Castile, Jui<y 13, 191 1 

Copyright, Central News, London 



406 



WALES AND ENGLAND UNITED 

the peasant whom the others despised kept aHve this ancient 
language as a Uving force. 

It was not, however, until toward the end of the first half 
of the eighteenth century that the Methodist revival began 
to give Wales that religious fervour which the majority of 
observers believe exists in Wales to-day. It was the preaching 
and the living example of such men as Griffith Jones, Howel 
Harris, and Rowlands of Llangeitho, who, struggling against 
continual persecution, still fought on, that at last gained the 
victory for Nonconformity and Wales. The old torpor 
gradually disappeared, and before a century had passed the 
religious spirit of this ancient people, who in the years that 
had gone had fought so long and so valiantly successively for 
Druidism, the British Church, and the Catholic creed, was at 
last rekindled.^ 

Conclusion 

jWe have now reached the end of our simple history of a 
gallant people. Of the nineteenth century we need say but 
little. Wales has for many years been a loyal and increasingly 
important member of the English State. Her history in these 
later years is English history, her commercial development 
has grown side by side with the expansion of English com- 
merce. Her agricultural population, though stripped in the 
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries of many valuable 
rights by the Inclosure Acts,^ has shared in that prosperityj 

^ History is put to an ill use when it is sought to use it to stir up opposition 
between different branches of the same rehgion. We express no opinion 
whatever upon the rival merits of Church and Nonconformist doctrine. 
Wales, however, it seems clear, was for a century after the Reformation 
sadly neglected by the English Church. To-day it is manifest that the 
majority of people in Wales are Nonconformist. These facts are certain 
and must be stated in a history. 

2 The reader is referred to Mr. Ivor Bowen's monograph. The Great 
Enclosures of Common Lands in Wales, for details. We may mention here 
that from 1760 to 1845, 3954 private Inclosure Acts were passed. In 1795, of 
the 5,100,000 acres in Monmouthshire and the PrincipaHty, 1,696,827 acres 
were unenclosed waste or common lands. In 1895, 693,628 acres only of 
unenclosed land existed, and of these 160,868 acres alone were capable of 
cultivation. This evil, which looks very hke robbery, was not peculiar to 
Wales. England suffered equally. 

407 



HISTORY OF WALES 

; To-day South Wales, which in the past was ravaged suc- 
cessively by Brython and Roman, Saxon and Norman, where 
for centuries the silent woods looked upon men struggling for 
liberty and mastery, has been given over to the peaceful 
struggles of capitalists, merchants, and labourers. Great coal 
industries have been founded and flourish. Important metal- 
works have been built and ports have been created. Univer- 
sities (that dream which Glyndwr never realized) have been 
established in South and Mid and North Wales. In the north, 
though the old woollen and fulling industries have to some 
extent declined, other trades and manufactures have sprung 
up and are flourishing. In a word, Wales has grown peaceful 
and prosperous, litigious but law-abiding, taking her fair share 
in the arts, in literature, and in learning.] 

vThus, after a stormy history, after centuries of struggling, 
Wales has at last emerged victorious ; a nation which, though 
few in numbers, has preserved a separate identity, thus confirm- 
ing the prophetic words of the wise man of Pencadeir related 
to us by Giraldus, who, when speaking to Henry II of this 
country of the west, said : " Nor do I think that any other 
nation than this of Wales, or any other language, whatever 
may hereafter come to pass, shall, in the day of severe exami- 
nation before the Supreme Judge, answer for this corner of 
the earth." Wales is still held by the Welsh people, true and 
loyal now to the King of England, but still a separate nation, 
A Prime Minister of Great Britain, speaking in that Cardiff 
which in the past has seen so many struggles for freedom, and 
speaking at a time when an unparalleled danger threatened 
the joint State, mirrored the thoughts of many Welshmen 
when he said : " Wales is a single and indivisible entity, with 
a life of its own, drawing its vitality from an ancient past, and 
both, I believe, in the volume and in the reality of its activity 
never more virile than it is to-day." Thus has fidelity to 
national ideals been rewarded). 



408 



NOTE A 

BARROWS, CROMLECHS, DOLMENS, AND 
GORSEDDS 

MOST of our knowledge of the early history of man is 
derived from the burial remains found in the ancient 
sepulchres. The burial-places which are called barrows are 
to be seen all over the world. They are found in North 
America, Siberia, China, and Japan, as well as in Egypt, South 
America, and throughout Europe. Homer has described to 
us a form of barrow burial, and the story of Beowulf contains 
a not dissimilar account. 

The barrow is a generic term used in England, at any rate 
as early as Gamden, to describe those mounds of earth which 
were raised to cover the stone burial chambers of Neolithic 
man, or in later times the cists holding the cinerary urns 
of the Bronze and Iron Ages. One of the most noticeable 
features of most barrows, apart from the earthen mound, is 
the encircHng wall or trench — sometimes consisting merely of 
a shallow ditch dug in the ground and encircling the mound, 
sometimes consisting of fosse and earthen wall, sometimes, as 
at New Grange, simply a circle of stones. 

The barrow, being a generic term, naturally splits up into 
many species, whose only point of similarity lies in the fact 
that in each case there is an earthen sepulchral mound. In 
every other respect one barrow may differ from another 
completely, both in point of date and in structure. 

The Long Barrow 

The earliest form of barrow is the ' long ' barrow. Even 
the long barrow divides up into two great classes : the simple, 

409 



HISTORY OF WALES 




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w 13 



OS 
PS 

< 

o 
o 

Q 

w 
w 

05 

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W 



410 






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W 



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HI -^ 

^ a, 

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W 






,»f 



BARROWS, CROMLECHS, ETC. 

unchambered long barrow and the chambered long barrow. 
Both types belong to the Stone Age. In both the customary 
form of burial was inhumation without previous cremation. 
It is consequently in these long barrows that we usually find 
the skeletons of men more or less complete, and generally bent 
into a sitting posture. Unlike the round barrows, the long 
barrows are rarely found in groups, being usually isolated and 
generally occupying a commanding view. In form they are 
large mounds several hundred feet long, thirty or fifty or 
even more feet wide, and three to twelve or more feet in 




Long Barrow with Peristauth and Wai,i<ing Restored 

From Archcsologia, vol. xlii, by permission of the Society of 

Antiquaries of London. 

height. Along the sides a trench was dug, but not along the 
ends. Both types of barrow frequently contained hollows or 
cists scraped out of the floor. Cremation burial was very 
rare, and always explainable on the hypothesis of a second 
interment. 

In interior form the most interesting of all the barrows is 
the chambered long barrow. Here the mound was heaped 
over a sepulchral building made of stones wedged together 
and covered over either by large flat stones or by an arched 
roof composed of stones. The plan of the chambered long 
barrows was, as may be seen from the illustrations given, 
extremely varied. In general, however, they were built in the 
form of a long passage opening out into one or more chambers. 
Around the external mound was frequently found a chain of 
encircling stones. The mound possessed an opening through 
which it was possible to enter into the very centre of the 

411 



HISTORY OF WALES 

barrow. It was in the chambers opening out from the central 
passage that the bodies of the dead were placed — sometimes in 
a stone coffin. Frequently at one end of the barrow (the 
broader end, for the barrow was generally smaller at one end 
than at the other) a single large stone was placed on end ; 
occasionally two stones were placed almost side by side and 
bridged by a third. 

It often happened that in the course of time the earthen 
covering of the chambered long barrow fell away from the 
interior stone chambers ; these in turn were weathered away, 
or were robbed by neighbouring tribes in want of building 
material. As a result we frequently find isolated monoliths or 
triliths ; sometimes we find circles of stones which were once 
the walls of the chambers of a barrow. Indeed, these stones 
are found in all kinds of combinations, due in many cases not 
to intent, but to the chances of the ages. These uncovered 
barrows are known as cromlechs, dolmens, or gorsedds. 

Round Barrows 

The round barrow came in, roughly speaking, with the 
Bronze Age, and lived on until Anglo-Saxon times. Some- 
times they were bowl-shaped, sometimes bell-shaped, some- 
times disk-shaped. In most cases there were several inter- 
ments in the same barrow, some being inhumations, some 
the burial of cremation remains. The most complete descrip- 
tion of these barrows and their interments is probably that 
of Mr. J. R. Mortimer, who has succeeded in filling more 
than 500 quarto pages with an account of his researches 
among the barrows of the East Riding of Yorkshire. To 
attempt even an analysis of the numerous accounts of these 
barrows is impossible in a short note such as this, but the 
following leading points may be made. 

Of the various kinds of round barrow the bowl-shaped 
variety is by far the most common. The average height of 
these was from 3 to 5 feet, the diameter from 20 to 60 feet, 
and sometimes as much as 100 feet. The bell-shaped 
barrows were somewhat larger. The disk-shaped barrows 
412. 



BARROWS, CROMLECHS, ETC. 

vary so greatly in size that it is almost impossible to fix an 
average. 

Sometimes several round barrows were grouped together, 
thus forming an oval barrow looking not unlike a long barrow 
to the casual observer. 




Bei<i<-shaped Round Barrow. 




Disk-shaped Round Barrow. 




Bowi,-SHAPED Round Barrow. 

From Archcsologia, vol. xliii, by permission of the Society of 

Antiquaries of I^ondon. 

The interment was in the first instance generally made in 
the centre of the mound, the body being either placed on the 
ground and then covered with earth, with or without the 
protection of a small covering of flat stones, or deposited in a 
grave or hole or cist, which was later filled in, the mound then 
being heaped over the place of burial. Secondary interments, 



HISTORY OF WALES 

however, frequently took place, and these secondary burials 
are in almost all cases cremation burials, the urn being fre- 
quently sunk into the sides of the mound. The primary 
interments are sometimes inhumations, sometimes of crema- 
tion remains in cinerary urns. It is upon this fact that we 
have expressed the opinion in the body of this work that the 
round barrows were invented by the same people who used the 
long barrows and were adopted by the later cremating people. 
According to Dr. Thurnam, whose articles in Archceologia 
have been largely relied upon throughout this note, " When 
the primary interment is by simple burial, it usually consists 




Round Barrow Buriai,, showing Skei,ETon protected bv a 
Covering of Stones. 
Vrom. Archesologia, vol. xliii, by permission of the Society of Antiquaries. 

of a single body, though in some cases two or more have been 
interred together in the same barrow, which may then be 
regarded as a family tomb." When the corpse was placed in 
a grave it was generally covered over with a protecting arch 
of stones or clay, and in many cases the skeleton, when found, 
was contracted. Sometimes it is evident that the grave has 
been found too small to hold the corpses, and then some of 
the bodies have been placed above the level of the ground, the 
whole being covered with clay or chalk. 

Attempts have been made to show that burial in round 
barrows was according to an astronomical plan, but it is 
evident from Mr. Mortimer's summary chart that no particular 
direction was aimed at in these burials, though, indeed, the 
position with the head to the east was the most common. 

4H i 



I 




>^- -^^^ ^^. 



"^^ 




If^ 







-^\ 



J'A 




Pl,ATE IvX. UNINSCRIBED BRITISH CoiNS 



414 



NOTE B 
COINS 

BRITISH coins, which have been discovered in some con- 
siderable quantity in England, Wales, and Scotland — by 
far the greater number being found in south, south-east, and 
midland England, a very few in Wales, and an occasional one 
in Scotland — date back, according to Sir John Evans, to not 
earlier than 200 B.C. The earlier coins are in all cases unin- 
scribed, so that we know nothing of the kings who coined them, 
and are without exception copies, sometimes close and some- 
times extremely debased, of the stater of Philip II of Macedon. 
Philip died in 336 B.C. These coins may have been intro- 
duced into Gaul and thence into Britain after the plunder of 
Greece by Brennus in 279 B.C. They may have reached this 
island earlier or later than those coming along the usual trade 
routes. Pytheas may have carried an example. It is not at 
all probable that the debased British copies were current with 
Greek or Phoenician, since, apart from their rude workmanship, 
the heaviest British coin was thirteen grains lighter than the 
Macedonian stater. 

When Caesar landed in Britain he found that the inhabitants 
used either ' ' golden money or thin bars of iron of a certain 
weight which pass for money." The golden coins here referred 
to were probably all uninscribed coins, the inscribed coins bear- 
ing names of kings who reigned after the departure of Caesar. / 

The most interesting and important find of these coins was 
made in 1848 by a shepherd-boy at Womersh, near Guildford. 
He had the good fortune to light upon nineteen examples of 
Type 6, which were before unknown, and which, according to 
Sir John Evans, are a final degradation of Type 3. 

The inscribed coins mark a very great advance in minting 



HISTORY OF WALES 

technique. The coins shown in Plate 6i are, of course, only 
examples of inscribed British coins, the complete list of which 
is, thanks mainly to the learning and enthusiasm of Sir John 
Evans, a long one. Some of these coins show very considerable 
skill on the part of the engravers, and it is probable that the 
dies were of Roman and not of British workmanship. Even as 
early as 30 B.C. there appears to have been a powerful ruling 
family in Britain, for we have coins of no less than three of 
the sons of Commius, and from the places in which these coins 
have been found it would seem that this family ruled over 
the major portion of south and south-eastern England. The 
designs on some of the British coins — e.g. the winged head of 
the Medusa on some of the coins of Tincommius — might lead 
us to interesting speculations as to the connexion between 
Greek and British culture. 

Plate 62 contains a few of the best examples of Roman 
coins noticeable as bearing the legend ' Britanniae ' or as having 
been minted in Britain. The last two coins in this plate — 
those of Carausius and Allectus — were struck toward the end 
of the third century A.D. by self-styled Emperors of Britain. 
Carausius had been Count of the Saxon Shore before 287. 
In that year he took advantage of the weakness of the Empire 
and the losses due to the invasion of the Goths and declared 
himself Emperor in Britain. He succeeded in maintaining 
his position until 293. He is responsible for very many coins, 
some of which bear on the reverse the Roman emblems of the 
wolf and twins, others the lion and thunderbolt, others a 
woman milking a cow (representing Rome, Valour, and Fertility 
respectively). Carausius was eventually assassinated by one 
of his officers, by name Allectus. We give these coins as 
being examples of those struck by pseudo-emperors whose 
powers and pretensions were similar to those of the later 
Maximus (before that leader led the men of Britain to the 
Continent in the bold attempt to seize the Imperial purple) and 
(according to legend, Nennius, and the historio-romancers) 
Arthur. The latest coin given in Plate 62 is that of Maximian, 
which was struck at the Mint of lyondon some time between 
the years 296-305. 
416 







k A^ 











.'TUxJC 



15 



<^1^#-|' 
^^\i_^ 



Pi,ATE IvXI. Inscribed British Coins 



416 



COINS 

We have but few specimens of coins struck in Britain after 
the departure of the Romans which are in any way connected 
with Welsh history. So far as we know the sole example of 
a Welsh coin which is earUer in date than the eleventh century 
is the coin of Howel Dha, famous as the Welsh lawgiver. 
Most of the coins of the succeeding centuries foimd in Wales 
seem to have been struck in the mints attached to Norman 
castles. From pre-Norman times in England it was, of 
course, customary to have mints in very many places ; practi- 
cally one might say there was at least one mint in every 
market-town or ' port.' In Wales, where commerce was 
neglected for fighting, the need for coins was not felt to the 
same extent, with the result that few Welsh coins have been 
preserved to us. 

Plate 6o : Uninscribed Coins 

No. S' '^^his is perhaps the closest British copy extant of 
the stater of PhiHp II of Macedon, which was the original 
from which all the uninscribed British coins were copied. A 
further degradation of type is seen in No. 6. 

No. 6. Here the face is almost disappearing ; the hair is 
becoming the chief part of the obverse design. The horse 
has completely disappeared. 

Nos. I, 2, 4, 5. These are probably later in date than No. 3, 
and the face of the Apollo on the obverse of the Philip stater 
has completely disappeared. In some the cruciform design 
bears some resemblance to hair bound with a fillet. As time 
goes on even this disappears, and at last the coin, if isolated, 
could not be regarded as connected in any way with the 
original model. The horse, however, is still evident. 

Plate 61 : Inscribed Coins 

No. 7. This coin bears the legend bodvo[c]. Such coins 
have been found near Plymouth, at Bukhill, near Dumfries, at 
Rodmarton and Birdlip, and at Stow, in Gloucestershire. 
Dr. Ingram suggested that it might be a coin of Boudicca 
(Boadicea). It is of heavier and finer gold than the coins of 

2D 417 



HISTORY OF WALES 

Antedrigus, and according to Sir Jolin Evans it is one of the 
earliest of the inscribed coins of the western district. Accord- 
ing to the same authority, probably none of the series bodvoc, 

CATTI, COMVX, VO-CORIO-AD, ANTEBRIGV, SVEI, and INARA 

are earlier than the Christian era. 

No. 8. This coin of Addedomaros has been found round 
Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent. At the 
latest it is as early as Tasciovanus. Addedomaros may be 
the Aedd Mawr of the Welsh chronicles. 

No. g. This is probably a coin of Vosenos, who was per- 
haps a contemporary of Dubnovellaunus. The inscription 
reads vosii. 

No. 10. This coin was found near Frome, in Somersetshire. 
Other specimens have been found in Gloucestershire and 
Oxfordshire. It bears the legend comvx, and it is not quite 
clear whether this refers to a king or to a community. 

Nos. II, 12, 13. Sir John Evans regards these coins as 
more ancient than CunobeUnus — ^the Cymbeline of Shakespeare. 
They are all coins of the sons of Commius, since we find the 
words COMMi . F {Commii filius) on some examples. On the 
coins reproduced the legends run as follows : No. 11, obverse, 
VI — ^Ri ; reverse, Co . f. No. 12, reverse, eppi f . com. No. 13, 
obverse, tinc ; reverse, c . F. 

No. II was found at Romsey, Hants. Other examples have 
been discovered in Sussex. The engraving is excellent. 
No. 12. Here the obverse bears a winged Victory, probably 
Roman in origin. Some of this king's coins read Eppii^vs. 
COM . F. He was Eppilus, the son of Commius, and he ruled 
over Kent, most probably about 30-31 B.C. No. 13 is a still 
more beautiful example of early British coinage. The engrav- 
ing is not unworthy of the Greeks, and is probably the work of 
a Roman artist. It is a coin of Tincommius, son of Commius. 
Some of his coins have on the reverse a winged head of the 
Medusa surrounded by snakes. Tincommius coined only in 
gold, so far as we know ; his brothers coined in gold, silver, 
and copper. 

No. 14. This coin of Tasciovanus was probably minted some 

418 , 

\ 
j 




' i 




I. 1 



ZQ 



Pi,ATE IyXII. Romano-British Coins 



41S 



COINS 

time between 30-5 B.C. Tasciovanus was a prolific mintef, 
but notwithstanding that very many coins similar to the one 
illustrated were known it was not until 1844 that it was quite 
determined whether the TASCio on the obverse referred to a 
king, a tax, or a people. In that year Mr. Birch discovered 
that some coins, instead of reading TASCE, as previously 
believed, read TASC . F, and were coins of Cunobelinus, the 
expanded reading of that and other coins being CvnobKi^invs . 
TASCiovANNi . F, or ' Cunobeline, the son of Tasciovanus.' For 
the extent of Tasciovanus' dominions see the note to the next 
coin. 

No. 15. I^egend : obverse, ca — mv ; reverse, cvno. This 
coin of King Cunobelinus, or CymbeUne, is one of many issued 
by that king. Out of the fifty-one British coins given in the 
Monumenta Historica Britannica, thirty-six are of Cunobeline, 
and Sir John Evans gives many more. This particular coin, 
which was one of the commonest of the many types issued by 
Cunobelinus, is particularly interesting, since it bears the 
name of the place where it was minted, viz. Camulodunum, 
the later Colchester. Cunobelinus was the son of Tascio- 
vanus, and ruled about the time of Christ over the greater 
part of south-eastern Britain, including Norfolk, Suffolk, 
Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bed- 
fordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, and Kent. 



Plate 62 : Romano-British Coins 

No. 16. A sestertius of Hadrian. Minted a.d. 119-138. 
Britannia personified. 

No. 17. A medallion of Commodus, a.d. 185. Britannia 
personified. 

No. 18. A coin of Maximian, a.d. 296-305, struck at the 
Mint of lyondon. 

No. 19. Aureus of Carausius, Emperor in Britain A.D. 
286-293. 

No. 20. Aureus of Allectus, Emperor in Britain a.d, 293- 
296. 

419 



HISTORY OF WALES 

A splendid find of over 5000 Roman bronze coins was made 
in 1873 on the lyittle Orme, in North Wales. Practically all 
the coins are of the period 305-310, and the extent of the 
output of the I^ondon mint (in which they were struck) is 
shown by the fact that hardly two of the coins are from the 
same die. It is believed that this hoard represents the military 
chest of the Roman station which commanded the pass at 
Penrhyn. The reader is referred for details to Archceologia 
Camhrensis, 6th Series, vol. ix, p. 381. 

Plate 63 : Welsh and Norman Coins 

Comparatively few Welsh coins have come down to us, 
most of those which we possess having been coined for Wales 
rather than minted by Welsh princes. In Plate 63 we 
give some examples of Saxon, Welsh, and Norman coins 
found in or near Wales. By far the most interesting coin 
shown is No. i, which bears on its obverse the inscription 
+ HOP/EL REX '.HE and on its reverse GILLYZ. According to 
Mr. Carlyon-Britton this is a coin of Howel Dha, the -E 
being C with a mark of contraction through the upright stroke 
and intended for ' Cymriorum.' The moneyer was Gillyz, and 
we know that a minter Gillys coined for Hadgar at Chester and 
Hereford. Nos. 2 and 3 are coins of Badmund, No. 2 being 
made by the moneyer Maeldomen at Chester, and No, 3 by 
Afra at Derby. Nos. 5 and 6 are other Gillyz coins. Nos. 6 
and 7 are Norman coins minted at Rhuddlan. The rest are 
also examples of Norman coins. 



420 













/• 






iW;,;.; ,ti 






^vV;-'C.y 



>>^ 



\^ ■: ■ , ■■/^/' 








M 



M O 

^ I 

o 






i-r '3 



NOTE C 
WELSH MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

/T^HB ancient Welsh musical instruments were seven in 
L number : the telyn, or harp ; the crwth, a crude 
type of violin ; the pib-corn, or horn-pipe ; the bagpipe ; the 
tabwrdd, or drum ; the coru-buelin, or bugle-horn ; and, lastly, 
that elementary instrument mentioned by Davydd ap Gwilym 
and now known as the Jew's harp, this being a corruption of 
the ancient name, ' jaw's harp.' 

The harp is, of course, a very ancient instrument. When 
the Welsh harp was first formed is unknown, but the harp in 
one form or another goes back beyond the days of the Psalmist. 
In Wales it was extremely popular, and every household 
possessed its harp and harper. According to Giraldus, it was 
customary for a guest to be entertained on his arrival " with 
the conversation of young women and with tunes on the 
harp." In the time of Davydd ap Gwilym it would appear 
that the harp was strung either with leather or hair strings. 
He shows a strong predilection for the hair-strung harp, 
speaking with contempt of the " din of this leathern harp." 
The hair used was not bleached, like the modern catgut, but 
was left in its natural colour. Strings of the requisite strength 
were obtained by plaiting. According to the Welsh laws bards 
were only required to use the hair-strung harp before taking 
their degree; afterward they were allowed to play on the 
leathern harpT Edward Jones, who wrote a treatise on Welsh 
musical instruments which was published in an enlarged form 
in 1794, related that a friend of his, WilUam WilHams, had 
a leathern harp when a boy. The body of it was hollowed or 
scooped out of a piece of wood and covered over with an 

421 



HISTORY OF WALES 

ox's skin, which was sewed very tightly at the back. The 
pegs were made of bone or ivory. Another old Welsh harp 
seen by the same writer (it was then 200 years old) had one 
row of strings, thirty-three in number. It was 4 feet 9 inches 
high, and was made of sycamore wood, except the sound- 
board, which was of deal. Davydd Benwyn, writing in 1584, 
gives " twenty-nine strings or more " as the compass of the 
harp. It would seem that the old Welsh harp extended from 
G, the first line in the bass, to D in alt. 

The single harp was the earliest form, and in ancient times 
was probably small in size. In course of time the double 
harp was invented. Sion Bos, the bard, writing about 1450, 
mentions a triple-stringed harp. The double harp contained 
from fifty to sixty strings, the triple harp as many as seventy- 
five, Jones said that he had seen a painting showing a 
triple harp with only fifty-seven strings ; on the other hand, 
he had seen a modern triple harp with more than a himdred. 
In his day the triple harp had a compass of five octaves 
and one note. He adds : " The two outside rows are the 
diatonics, which are both tuned in unisons and in any key 
that the performer means to play in ; the treble row of 
them consists of twenty-seven strings ; that is, from A in alt 
down to C in the bass ; and the opposite row, or unisons 
(which are played with the bass hand) , extends from A in alt 
as low as double G in the bass, which is thirty-seven strings ; 
and the middle row, being the flats and sharps, extends from 
alto G sharp down to double B natural in the bass, consisting 
of thirty-four strings. All the three rows together amount to 
ninety-eight strings." The Welsh harp had, we believe, no 
pedal. When being played it was inclined against the left 
shoulder ; the treble was played with the right hand and the 
bass with the left. 

The crwth was the subject of a paper sent as long ago as 
1770 to the Society of Antiquaries by the Hon. Dennis 
Harrington. He tells us that at that time there was but one 
man in the whole principality who could play on it. His 
name was John Morgan, of Newburgh, in Anglesey. The 
422 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

crwth is supposed to be an early form of violin, though in 
fact the two instruments are very different. As early as 
1460 we find it placed in juxtaposition to the fiddle, for in 
Liheaus Disconus the following passage occurs : 

With sytole, sautrye yn same, 
Harpe, fydele and crouthe. 

The crwth possessed six strings, two being touched by the 
thumb. It had a flat bridge, so that all the strings must of 




The Crwijh 
From AvchcBologia, vol. iii, 



necessity have been struck at once. One end of the bridge 
went through the hole in the belly of the instrument and acted 
as sound-post. According to Jones, the crwth was a pleasant- 
toned instrument, commonly used in olden times as a tenor 
accompaniment to the harp. 

The method of tuning was entirely different from that 
adopted in the case of the vioHn, which is tuned in fifths. 
The strings of the crwth and the method of tuning them, 
according to Jones, were as follows : 



6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, rst 



Tune ist I Tune'sth I Tune 6th I Tune and I Tune 3rd I Tune 4th 
1 string I toist | to 5th | to ist | to 5th | to 3rd. 




im^^M 



423 



HISTORY OF WALES 

It was, of course, played with a bow, which was short and 
very bowed. It seems to have been common in Wales and 
on the border, and Butler could deem it necessary to intro- 
duce a crowder into Hudihras (he had probably heard them 
while staying at I^udlow Castle), Of famous performers on 
the instrument the name of Rhys Grythor, who lived about 
1580, has been preserved to us. The instrument itself dates 
back at least as far as Giraldus. 

The pib-corn was still being played when Barrington and 
Jones were writing. Barrington says, however, that it was 
hardly used in any other part of Wales except Anglesey, 
In his time a Mr. Wynn of Penkescedd gave an annual prize 




Thb Peb-corn 
From ArchcBologia, vol. iii. 

to the best performer on the instrument, and Barrington 
himself had heard one of the prize-winners. He describes 
the tone as being very " tolerable." He also tells us that 
it " resembles an indifferent hautbois." It was probably 
called a horn-pipe because both its extremities were made of 
horn. It was a reed instrument. Jones tells us that it was 
played by the shepherds in Anglesey, " and tends greatly to 
enhance the innocent delight of pastoral life." 

The bagpipe was not, of course, by any means pecuUar to 
Wales. It was probably developed from a more simple instru- 
ment blown directly from the mouth. lolo Goch, writing 
about the time of Glyndwr, mentions it. 

The drum and the jaw's or Jew's harp require no comment. 
The bugle-horn is an ancient instrument obtaining its name 
from the buffalo. The buffalo-horn was much prized in 
the time of Howel, but rather as a drinking-vessel than as a 
potential instrument of music. 

Giraldus has several things to say of Welsh music. Accord- 
424 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

ing to him (we quote from Sir Richard Colt Hoare's transla- 
tion), "Their musical instruments charm and delight the ear 
with their sweetness. ... It is astonishing that in so complex 
and rapid a movement of the fingers the musical proportions 
can be preserved, and that throughout the difficult modulations 
on their various instruments the harmony is completed with 
such a sweet velocity, so unequal an equality, so discordant a 
concord, as if the chords sounded together fourths or fifths. 
They always begin from B flat and return to the same, that 
the whole may be completed under the sweetness of a pleasing 
sound. They enter into a movement and conclude it in so 
delicate a manner, and play the little notes so sportively 
under the blunter sounds of the bass strings, enlivening with 
wanton levity, or communicating a deeper internal sensa- 
tion of pleasure, so that the perfection of their art appears 
in the concealment of it : 

Art profits when concealed, 
Disgraces when revealed. 

From this cause, those very strains which afford deep and 
unspeakable mental delight to those who have skilfully 
penetrated into the mysteries of the art, fatigue rather than 
gratify the ears of others, who seeing, do not perceive, and 
hearing, do not understand ; and by whom the finest music 
is esteemed no better than a confused and disorderly noise, 
and will be heard with unwillingness and disgust." 

In his time the chief instruments were the harp, pipe, and 
crwth, and it is very evident from other parts of his works that 
the harp was an ever-present joy in the ordinary Welsh house- 
hold, and that the crwth was a highly esteemed though 
secondary instrument. The pipe does not appear to have 
been equally popular. To-day, of course, the crwth has been 
completely superseded by the violin. The Welsh harp, how- 
ever, still fives on, though it is now similar in appearance 
to the English harp, but much smaller. It is differently 
tuned. The writer was once fortunate enough to hear a 
well-known Welsh harpist play on a Welsh harp made by 



HISTORY OF WALES 

himself. It was in the chief room of a small inn in a typical 
Welsh village. The company was composed mainly of Welsh 
farmers, and many could not speak English. In this very 
Welsh setting the harper struck the strings of his instrument. 
Player and instrument combined to produce a result not 
merely pleasing, but delightful. 



426 



WELSH SEALS 

THE following seals are preserved in the British Museum, 
and are described in Mr. W. de Gray Birch's Catalogue 
of Seals. 

The figures in brackets refer to the number in the Catalogue. 
The spellings have not been altered. 

[771] Oliver Cromwell's signet seal, showing five Welsh 
quarterings. (Illustration faces p. 402 ; description, 
p. xxxiv.) 

[820] John Tippetot, first Baron Tiptoft and Powys. 

[1407] Roland Merrick, Bishop of Bangor, 1559-66. 

[1859] Nicholas ap Gurgant, Bishop of I^landaff, 1148-83, 

[1865] [1870] Henry of Abergavenny, Bishop of lylandaff, 
1193-1218. 

[2541] Henry, Abbot of Aberconway ; fifteenth century. 

[3669] Abbot's first seal of Neath Cistercian Abbey, Glamorgan. 

[3954] Chapter seal of College of St. Mary's, St. David's. 

[4ii7],[4ii8] Seal of Cistercian Abbey of Strata Marcella. 

[4193], [4194] Seal of Cistercian Abbey of Tintern. 

[5547] Ivlywelyn ap lorwerth. Prince of North Wales ('the 
Great '). (Illustration faces p. 318 ; description p. xxxi.) 

[5549] Edward, first (English) Prince of Wales. (Illustration 
faces p. 358 ; description p. xxxiii.) 

[5617] Madog ap Griffin of Strata Marcella ; twelfth century. 

[5803] Pain of Chaworth ; 1270. 

[5804] Ranulf, third Earl of Chester, 1119-28. (There are 
other seals of the Earls of Chester.) 

[5833] One of the Clares' seals. 

[5944] Cadwallon ap Caradog ; c. 1200. 

[5946] Morgan ap Caradog (of Aberafan) ; twelfth or thir- 
teenth century. 

427 



HISTORY OF WALES 

[5957] Madog ap Gruffydd ; 1228 ; co. Montgomery. 

[5971] Conan f . Heliae ; late twelfth century. 

[5977] Howel ap Cadwallon of Dolgeneu ; late twelfth century 

[5980] Leisan ap Morgan. 

[6052] Morgan Gam of Aberafan. 

[6161] A Lacy seal. 

[6235] Simon de Montfort's seal. 

[6567], [6670], [6682] March or Welsh lady's seals. 

Owain Glyndwr's Great and Privy Seals are now preserved 
in Paris. They are described in ArchcBologia, vol. xxv, and 
are illustrated ante, p. 378. 



428 



SELECTION OF IMPORTANT DATES 

3600-1300 B.C. (c). Circles and avenues built. 

2000 B.C. (c). Commencement of Bronze Age in Albion. 

1000 B.C. (c). First Goidels (Gaels) arrive in Albion. 

300 B.C. (c). Brythonic conquest of Albion. 

100 B.C. (c). I^ate Celtic art reaches its zenith. 

55 B.C. Caesar's first landing. 

50-1 B.C. British inscribed coins being struck. 

A.D. 43 Aulus Plautius commences the Roman conquest of 

Britain. 
74-78. Julius Frontinus reduces the Silures and Ordovices 

of Wales. 
286-293. Carausius Emperor in Britain. 
383. Maximus (Maxen Wledig) leads the men of Britain 

against Gratian. 
400 (c). Cunedda Wledig conquers Gwynedd. 
409. Saxon and Angle invasion becomes of serious propor- 
tions. 
429. Britons win the Hallelujah Battle. 

441-449. Saxons establish themselves permanently in Britain. 
450 (c). Vortigern rules. 
504-516 (c). Battle of Mount Badon ; Gildas born ; Arthur, 

the legendary king of the Britons, flourishes. 
571. Battle of Deorham separates Welsh from the men of 

Cornwall (the West Welsh). 
584. Battle of Fethan-lea ; Ceawlin beaten back from Cheshire. 
613 (c). Battle of Chester separates Welsh from the Britons 

of Strathclyde. 
617 (c). Cadwallawn, the devastator of Northumbria and ally 

of Penda, commences to rule over Gwynedd. 
633. Cadwallawn wins victory of Hatfield Chase (Heathfield). 

429 



HISTORY OF WALES 

664-683 (c.) (probably 664). Cadwalader, last of the kings 
of Britain, dies of the plague. 

844. Rhodri Mawr succeeds Merfyn Frych. 

850 (c). Norse and Danes begin to ravage Wales. 

928 (c). Howel Dha's laws compiled. 

950. Howel Dha dies. 
1039. Gruffydd ap lylywelyn succeeds lago. 
1063. Harold Godwinson plans Gruffydd's death. 
1066. The Normans. 
1070. Bleddyn sole Prince of Powys. 
1075. Gruffydd ap Cynan ; reigned intermittently between 

1075 and 1137 (lived 1054-1137). 
1081. Battle of Mynydd Carn. 
iioo (c). Geoffrey of Monmouth born. 
1137-70. Owain Gwynedd leader of the Welsh. 
1140 (c). Walter Map born. 
1147 (c). Giraldus Cambrensis born. 
1170-97. The Ivord Rhys leader of the Welsh (born 1132). 
1197-1200. Ivlywelyn and Gwenwynwyn. 
1200-40 (c). lylywelyn the Great becomes the chief prince in 

Wales. 
12 16. Welsh Parliament meets at Aberdovey. 
1233. I^lywelyn overruns South Wales. 
1240-46. David, Gruffudd, and Henry III at feud. 
1246-58. lylywelyn's rise to power. 
1258. Welsh chieftains take oath of fidelity to lylywelyn. 

1282. Edwardian Conquest ; death of I^lywelyn. 

1283. David ap Gruffudd put to death. 
1294. Madog's rebellion. 

1322. First Welsh members returned to Parliament. 

1349. The Black Death. 

1359. Owain Glyndwr born. 

1400. Owain Glyndwr rebels. 

1403. Battle of Shrewsbury, 

1415 (c). Owain Glyndwr dies. 

1485. Bosworth Field ; Henry Tudor ascends the EngHsh 

Throne. 
430 



IMPORTANT DATES 

1534-43. Rowland Lee president of the Council of Wales. 

1535. Act of Union passed. 

1536. Welsli Parliamentary representation becomes constant. 
1639. Commencement of Nonconformist movement. 

1642. Civil War commences. 

1647. Harlech Castle falls. 

1719. First Welsh book printed in Wales. 

1760-1845. Inclosure Acts mainly passed. 



431 



INDEX 



In using the Index the following points may usefiilly be borne in 
mind : ae and a (' Caer ' and ' Car ') ; Cy and Ki (' Cydweli * and 
' Kidwelly ') ; / and v (' Dyfed ' and ' Dyved ') ; g and c (' Madog ' 
and ' Madoc ') ; y and i, o, e (' Tywi,' ' Towi ' ; ' Dynefwr,' ' Dine- 
vor ' ; ' Meirionydd,' ' Merioneth ') ; dd and th ; o and w, are to 
some extent interchangeable in Welsh spelling, though a consistent 
spelling of the same word, unless for good reason, has been adopted 
in the present book. 

Contractions used : ap = son of ; vz = daughter of. 

Pronunciations : dd = soft ih in English. LI — thl (soft), g in 
siich words as Madog = ck or hard c ; e.g. Madog = ' Maddock.' 
c is always hard, f = v. ff — f. w = long o. The stress is on 
the penultimate ; e.g. Cadwgan = ' Cado'gan.' 



AbKR, 56 

Aberafan Castle, 267, 272, 279 

Aberconway, or Conway, Treaty of, 

345 
Aber Corran (Laugharne) Castle, 285 
Aberdovey (Aber Dyvi), 85, 86, 170, 

262, 267, 319 
Aber Dyvi — see Aberdovey 
Aber E^inion Castle, 281 
AberfEraw, 82, 96, 108, 151, 166 
Abergavenny, 56, 376 
Abergavenny Castle, 224, 238, 312, 

324 
Abergwaun, 151 
Abergwyli, battle of, 165 
Aberhonddu Castle, 191, 312, 316, 

324. See also Brecon Castle 
Aberlleiniog Castle, 184, 253 
Aberllychwer Castle, 267 
Abermenai, 246, 248, 252 
Aber Nedd, 262 
Aberriw, 200 
Aberteifi (Aberteivi, Aber Tywi) 

Castle, 199, 264, 272, 284, 288, 314, 

317. See also Cardigan Castle 
Aberteivi — see Aberteifi 
Aber Tywi — see Aberteifi 
Aberystwyth, 199, 261, 288 
Aberystwyth Castle, 261, 263, 288, 

306, 309, 319, 346, 384, 404 



2 E 



Acta Sanctorum, 223, 228 

Act of Union (1535), 392, 393. 396- 

397 
Addedomaros, 418 
Adonis, and the Arthur, conception 

202, 203 
Aeddan ap Elegy wryd, 164 
Aedd Mawr, 418 
Aelfgar I,eofricson, 172, 173, 174 
Aelfric, 162 n. 
Aelle, 75 
Aere, 251 
Aesc, 72 
Aethelbald, 143 
Aethelflaed, the Lady, 156 
Aethelfrith, 79, 80, 94, 96 
Aethelred of Mercia, 154 
Aethelred the Redeless, 166 
Aethelstan, 158, 159 
Aethelwulf, 149, 153 
Aetius, 41 
Afra, 420 
Agency, 134 

Agincourt, the Welsh at, 388, 391 
Agricola, 54-55 
Agriculture, 114, 115-116 
Ailill, 206 
Aillechwdd, 256 

Airem, the story of, 205-206, 207, 208 
Alaw, xxviii 

433 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Albion, 67 

Alexander I of Scotland, 256 

Alexander III, 343 

Alexander IV, Pope, 338 

Alfred, King, 112, 148, 154, 155, 156, 

159 
AUiune, Bishop, 152 n. 
Allectus, 416, 419 
Allen, J. Romilly, 42-43 
Ambrosius Aurelianus, 76 
Anarawd ap GrufEydd ap Rhys, 263 
Anarawd ap Rhodri, 153, 154, 155, 

156 
Anarawd ap Rhys, 286 n. 
Anastasius III, Pope, 157 
Anderida, 68 ; massacre at, 72 
Angharad, mother of Giraldus Cam- 

brensis, 296 
Angharad vz Maredudd, 164 
Angharad vz Meurig, 149 
Angles, 70, 71, 83 
Anglesey, xxviii, 53, 54, 56 and n. 

S3. 107. 151. 152. 153. 155- 1(^3' 
166, 167, 184, 192, 247, 251, 252' 
254, 255, 269, 271, 301, 345, 347' 
351 n., 373, 387, 404, 424 ; deriva-' 
lion of name, 151 ; ancient, 
importance of, 151 ; Normans in 
possession of, 255 ; Giraldus Cam- 
brensis on, 301 ; becomes a covmty, 
351 n. See also Mon 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 71, 72 n., 
76, 83, 140, 150, 158, 162 n., 189, 
223 n. 

Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, 
67-80 ; contrasted with the Nor- 
man Conquest, 75 

Anian, Bishop of St. Asaph, 341 

Annales Cambriae, 76, 82 n., 91, 97, 
98, 99, 112, 140, 143, 152, 157, 168, 
189, 257, 273, 327 

Antedrigus, 418 

Antoninus Pius, 64 

Arawn, 208 

Arberth — see Narberth 

Arbitration among the ancient Welsh, 
131-132 

Architecture, domestic, 118-119; 
castle, 225-236 

Ardden vz Robert ap Seisyll, 168 

Arderydd, 95 

Ardudwy, 252, 256 

Armitage, Mrs., 227 n. 

Armorica, 142, 143 

Armour, 134 

Arnold's Castle, 224 

Arnulf, 192, 193 

434 



Art, Brythonic or I^ate Celtic, xxiii, 
xxiv, 42-44 

Artchorp, 12 

Arten, 203 

Arthur, King, 76, 89-92, 93, 107, 
201-220, 290, 292 

Arthurian legends, 47 ; widespread 
influence and dissemination of, 
201-204 ; origin of, 202-210 ; 
factors in the dissemination of, 
210-214 ; Irish influence upon, 
211 ; connexion between, and 
the Continental stories of Lancelot 
and Parsifal, 214-218 ; historical 
value of, 218-219 ; influence upon 
the age of chivalry, 201, 219-220 ; 
Walter Map and, 294, 295 

Artio, or Artius, 203, 207 

Arundel, Earl of, 369, 371, 376 

Arimdel, Earl of, justiciary of Wales, 

397 
Arvon, xxxiii, 95, 96, 107, 184, 187, 

246, 252 
ArwystU, 187, 249, 251, 274, 287, 322 
Asquith, Right Hon. H. H., on 

Wales, 408 
Asser, xxvii, 112, 153, 154 
Astley, Lord, 403 

Astronomy, the early Welsh and, 79 
Atrebates, 39 
Augustine, St., 78-79, 115 
Aulus Plautius, 49, 50 
Aureton, or Orleton, Castle (Richard's 

Castle), 226, 227 
Avebury, megaliths at, 19 
Avenger, tribal, 106 
Avenues, megalithic, 16-17 
Avranches, Hugh of — see Chester, 

Hugh of 
Avranches, Richard of, 181 
' Aylesford Pail,' the, xxiv 



Baai,, or Bel, xxii ; worship of, in 
early Britain, 5, 6, 13, 22, 26 

Baalbek, megaliths at, 19 

Badon, Mount, battle of, 76, 91 

Bala Castle, 305 

Baldwin, xxxii 

Baldwin, Archbishop, 298, 301 

BaUinger, Mr. John, -gTri-g 

Ballista, 240, 241 

Bangor, 79, 95, 115, 184, 308 

Bards, Welsh, 110-113, 114, 123, 
141-142, 421 ; Henry IV's law 
against, 372 

Bardsey Isle, 210 



INDEX 



Barri, or Barry, Gerald de — see 

Giraldus Cambrensis 
Barri, William de, 296 
Barrington, the Hon. Dennis, 422, 424 
Barrows, 409-414 
Basingwerk, 115, 270 
Basingwerk Abbey, xsx 
Basingwerk Castle, 277 
Bath, 77 

Bath, the, in early Wales, 137 
Bathau-Ceaster, 77 
Bauzan, English officer, 335, 336 
Bayevix Tapestry, xxix, 227 n. 
Beaiichamp, Richard, 384 
Beauchamp, WilUam, Earl of War- 
wick, 355 
Beaufort, Margaret, 394 
Beaumaris, 404 
Beaumaris Castle, 355 
Bee, Walter de, 261 
Becket, Thomas a, 281 
Bede, 68, 71, 90, 94 
Bedford, 77 
Bel — see Baal 
Belgae, 39 
Bcli, 96 

Belleme, Robert of, 192, 193 
Eellot, Dr., 114 n. 
Benfras, Dafydd, 328 
Benwyn, Davydd, 422 
Berfeddwlad, Y, 107 
Bernicia, 79, 94 

Berwyn range, 275-276, 377, 389 
Beimo, St., xxvii 
Bible, translated into Welsh, 392, 

400 
Billingsley, Truce of, 173 
Birch, Mr. de Gray, xxxi, xxxiii, 

xxxiv, 419, 427 
Bishopstree (Bistre), 176 
Black Book of Carmarthen, 47 
Black Death, 352, 359-361,365, 366, 

367 
' Black Normans,' 155 
' Black pagans,' 150, 155, 161, 163 
Blaenllyvni (Blaen I^lyfni) Castle, 

312 
Bleddyn ap Cynvyn, 182, 184-186, 

18S, 191, 246, 369 
Bleddyn, Prince of Powys, 121, 123 
Bledhericus, 213 
Blegywryd, 112, 157 
Eleheris (Bledhericus, Breris), 213 
Bhhis, Master, 213 
Blood feud, 135 
Bloody Acre, battle of the, 187 
Blue Bard of the Chair, 112 



Boadicea, or Boudicca, 52-53, 417 

Bochas, 89 

Bodmin, megaliths at, 19 

Bodyddon, or Bydydon, Castle, 335 

Bohim, Humphrey de (i), 338, 339 

Bohun, Humphrey de (2), 358 

Boneddigion, 109 

Borron, Robert de, 212 

Bors, 217 

Bort, 217 

Bosworth Field, 394, 395 

Bowen, Ivor, 407 n. 

Bows and bowmen, 237, 238 

Brabant, William of, 198 

Bran, 215, 217 

Erandegore, King, 217 

Brandon Flint Mines, 8 

Branodunum, 68 

Brassempuoy, Figurine de, xxi 

Brattice, the, 234 

Breaute, Faulkes de, 306, 309, 311 

Brecknock, 281, 306, 397 

Brecknock, Henry of, 283 

Brecon, 344 

Brecon Castle, 312 n., 324, 403 

Brehon, 31 

Breose, Giles de, 312 

Breose, Isabella de, 313 

Breose, John de, 313, 319, 323 

Breose, Matilda de, 316 

Breose, Matilda de, wife of Gruffydd 

ap Rhys, 313 
Breose, Matilda de, wife of Rhys 

Mechyll, 313 
Breose, Robert (or Reginald) de, 312, 

316 
Breose, the house of, 306, 313, 314, 

316, 319 
Breose, William de, 306, 322, 323 n. 
Breris, 213 
Brescy, Roger, 382 
Bretons, 39 
Brewer, J. S., 297 
Bridgnorth, 372 
Bridgnorth Castle, 192, 269 
Brigantes, 52 
Bristol, Earl of, 279 
Britain, ancient inhabitants of, 2-14 
Brittani, 39 
Brittany, 142-143 
Brochmail, xxvi, 79 and «., 80 
Broigar, megaliths at, 19 
Bromfield, 344 
Bromfield Castle, 264 n. 
Bronwen, xxviii-xxix, xxxiv, 204 n. 
Bronwen the Daughter of Llyr, 204 n. 
Bron yr Erw, battle of, 187 

435 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Bronze Age in Britain, 9-1 1 

Bronze, introduction of, into Britain, 
9, 38 ; prejudice against, 34 

Brut Geoffrey ap Arthur, 47 

Brut Gruffydd ab Arthur, 292 

Brut, Roman de, 212 

Brut Saeson, 273 

Brut Tysilio, 292 

Brut y Brenhinoedd, 292 

Brut y Tywysogion, 70, 71, 91, 139, 143, 
162 n., 168 n., 169, 174, 182, 193, 
194, 252, 256, 257, 261, 262, 265, 
273,283,284, 22,6n., 288, 293 and 
n-, 307. 308, 311, 315, 316 w., 317, 
322, 333, 335, 346 

Brute, Walter, 367 

Bryclieiniog 145, 154, 155, 156, 190, 

324 
Bryn Derwin, 334 
Bryn-glas, 375 
Bryn-y-pin, 271 
Brythons, 4, 8 n., 12, 36, 37, 38-47, 

62, 67, 81, 82 and n., 83, 86 
Buddugre Castle, 266 
Buellt — see Builth 
Builth, or Buellt, 145, 316, 331, 335, 

337 
Builth Castle, 226, 312 «., 320, 322, 

337. 348 
Bulkeley, Bishop, 400 n. 
Bulkeley, family of, 401 
Burgh, Hubert de, xxxii, 318, 320, 

321, 322, 323, 324 
Burh, 226-228 
Burhred, 149, 152 n. 
Buttington, battle of, 154-155 
Bychan, 272, 315 
Bydydon, or Bodyddon, Castle, 335 

CadapaeIv, 98 n. 

Cadell, king of Powys, xxvi 

Cadell ap Gruffydd ap Rhys, 265, 266, 

272, 278, 279 

Cadell ap Rhodri, 153, 155, 156 
Cadvan, 96 

Cadwalader ap Gruffydd ap Cynan, 
258, 261, 263, 265, 266, 269, 271, 

273. 275, 277, 279 
Cadwalader ap Seisyll, 283 
Cadwaladr Vendigaid, 98-99, 139 

and n., 142 
Cadwallawn, or Caedwalla, 96-98, 139 
Cadwallawn ap leuaf, 161, 162 
Cadwallon ap Gruffydd, 258 
Cadwgan ap Bleddyn, 186, 191, 192, 

193, 194. 195. 196, 197-200, 254, 

255 



Cadwgan ap Cadwalader, 266 
Caedwalla — see Cadwallawn 
Caereinion, or Careinion, 199, 200, 

277. 335 
Caereinion Castle, 267 
Caerflos, 56 
Caergai, 56 
Caerhun, 51, 55 
Caerlegion, 79 
Caerleon (Chester), 308 
Caerleon-upon-Usk, 52, 53, 55, 61, 91, 

162 n., 283 
Caermarthen (later Carmarthen), 

xxxiii, 56, 286, 311, 346, 357, 359, 

402, 403 
Caermarthen Castle, 263, 264, 265, 

266, 272, 278, 279, 314, 315, 317, 

319, 320, 324, 354 
Caernarvon (later Carnarvon), 56, 

404 
Caernarvon Castle, xxxii - xxxiii, 

xxxiv-xxxv, 184,353,354,382, 383 
Caerphilly Castle, xxix, 233-236, 343, 

354 

Caersws, 56 

Caerwedros Castle, 261 

Caerwent, xxv, 40, 56, 63, 73 n. 

Caerwys, Eisteddfod of, 400 

Caer-yn-Arvon, xxxiii 

Caethion, 109 

Cain Lanamhna, 134 

Caio, 56 n. 

Calendar of Close Rolls, 357 

Calleva, 39 

Cambriae Epitome, The, 296 

Cambrian Archaeological Association, 

xxxi 
Cambridge, Llywelyn the Great and 

King John at, 309 
Camelot, 90, 113 m. ; battle of, 209 
Camlan (Camelot), 113 n., 209 
Camulodunum, 50, 52, 53, 419 
Canghellor, 108 
Canovium, xxv 
Cantref, 107, 108, 
Canwyll y Cymry, 400 
Capgrave, J., 369 
Caracalla, 64-65 
Caradigan, 215 
Caradoc — see Caratacus 
Caradoc ap Gruffydd, 249, 250 
Caradoc, Mount, 51 
Caradoc Vreichfras, xxxiv 
Caradog ap Gruffydd, 180, 182, 187, 

188, 189 
Caradog, king of Gwynedd, 146 
Caradog of IJancarvan, 145 



436 



INDEX 



Caratacus (Caractacus, Caradoc), 40, 
50, 51-52, 204 «. 

Carausius, 416, 419 

Carbery, Earl of, 401, 402 

Cardiff, 56, 359, 376, 408 

Cardiff Castle, 190 n., 229, 231, 324, 
402 

Cardiff Motte, 190 

Cardigan, 83, 262, 323, 354, 403 

Cardigan Castle, 262, 276, 280, 314, 
320, 321, 323, 331, 388, 403 See 
also Aberteifi 

Cardiganshire, 351 n. 

Cardinham, 215 

Careinion — see Caereinion 

Carew Castle, xxxiii, 402 

Carew family, xxxi 

Cariyon-Britton, Mr., 420 

Carmarthen — see Caermarthen 

Carmarthenshire, 351 n. 

Carn Mountain, battle of, 188 

Carnarvon — see Caernarvon 

Carnarvonshire, 351 n. 

CarnwylHon Castle, 313, 315 

Carreg Cennen Castle, 346 

Carreghofa Castle, 274 

Carrog, xxxiii 

Cassivellaunus, 49 

Castel Coch, 242. See also Trallwng 
Castle and Pool Castle 

Castell CoUen, 56 

Castell Gwys, 265. See also Wiston 

Castell Hen, 313 

Castell Howell — see Howel Castle 

Castle architecture, 225-236 

Castle Baldwin, 155 

Castle Flemish, 56 n. 

Castle Humphry, 263, 272 

Castle Loughor (Ivlychwr), 313 

Castle Rhuddlan, 183, 186 

Castles, the Norman, 221-244 ; de- 
struction of, in Gwynedd, imder 
Gruffydd ap Cynan, and in Powys, 

252-253. 254 

' Cat,' the, 238 

Cat, the, in ancient Wales, 25, 126 

Catapult, 240 

Catgualart, 99 

CatguoUaun, 97, 99 

Cathbad, the Druid, 29 

Catherine vz Owain Glyndwr, 389 

Cato, M. Porcius, on Gallic charac- 
teristics, 45 

Cattwg, 115 

Catuvellauni, xxv, 50 

Caxton. William, on King Arthur, 
89-90 



Ceadwalla, 139 n. 

CeawHn, 75, 76, 77, 78 

Cebur, Bishop of St. Asaph, 157 

Cecil, family of, 392 

Cediver of Dyfed, 190 «. 

Cefn DigoU, battle of, 356 

Cefnllys Castle, 338 

Ceiriog, Vale of, 275 

Celestine I, Pope, 75 

Celtic art, I^ate, 42-44 

Celts, 12, 37, 39 ; art of, 42-44 ; 
influence of the Roman occupation 
of Britain upon, 60-62 

Celynwg, 95 

Cemais, 108, 262, 313, 314, 315, 336 

Cemais Castle, 356 

Cenadoc ap lestyn, 377 

Cennadlog, forest of, 269 

Ceolwulf, 75 

Cerdic, 75 

Ceredig, 83 

Ceredigion, or Keredigion, 83, 145, 
149, 161, 163, 183, 191, 192, 193, 
194. 197, 198, 199, 215, 260, 261, 
263, 266, 276, 279, 280, 288, 314, 
315, 316, 335, 344 

Charlemagne, 143 

Charles I, 402, 403 

Charles VI of France, allied with 
Owain Glyndwr, 385, 386 

Charlton, Edward de, 387 

Chattels, early Welsh, and values, 
120-121 

Chaucer, 129, 131, 364 

Chepstow, 404 

Chepstow Castle, 183 

Cherlton, John de, 357, 358 

Chester, xxviii, 50, 53, 55, 61, 156, 268, 
376; battle of, 76, 79-80, 91, 96, 
114 ; Welsh under-kings swear 
fealty to Edgar the Peaceful at, 
161-162 ; in Norman hands, 181 ; 
William the Conqueror at, 182 ; 
Gruffydd ap Cynan a prisoner in, 
251 ; John's gatherings against 
Llywelyn at, 308, 310 ; Gwen- 
wynwyn flees to, 315 ; Henry 
III at, 332, 336 ; retaken by 
English, 340 ; Edward I's base, 
345 ; and the Statutum de anno 
secundo, 372 ; Welsh summoned 
to submit to Henry IV at, 374 ; 
in the Civil War, 404 ; mintage at, 
420 

Chester, Earl of, 307 

Chester, Hugh of, xxviii, 183, 184, 
248, 251 252, 254, 255, 256 

437 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Chester, Ranulf of, 264, 265, 319 

Chester, Richard, Earl of, 256 

Chief, tribal, 106 

Chirbury, Lord Herbert of, 352 

Chirk Castle, 402 

Chivalry, the age of, and the Arthur 

stories, 201, 219-220 
Chretien de Troyes, 207 n., 212, 213, 

215, 216, 217, 294 
Christianit}'-, introduction of, into 

Britain, 61, 78, 115 ; established 

as the dominant reUgion, 98 n. 
Chronicles of the Princes, 98, 99, 139, 

140, 144, 145, 146, 157, 164, 168, 

185, 332 
Church of England, and Wales, 401, 

406, 407 n. 
Church Stretton, 51 
Cilgerran Castle, xxxi, 276, 280, 314, 

315 
Cinglas, 93 
Cinnamus, xxvi 
Circles, megaUthic, 15-27 
Cirencester, 77 
Cissa, 75 

Civil War, the, Wales and, 401-405 
Clare, Earl of, 333 
Clare, family of, 279 
Clare, Gilbert de, 235 
Clare, Richard de (Richard fitz 

Gilbert), 260 
Clare, Richard of, 281 
Clark, G. T., xxix, xxxi, xxxiii, 

xxxiv, 226, 229 n., 230, 231, 

233 nn., 242 
Claudius, Emperor, and the Druids, 

113 
Clement VI, Pope, 360 
Cleopatra's Needle, 19 
Clifford Castle, 181 
Clifford, family of, 279 
Cloten, 84 

Clothing, in early Wales, 121 
Clutorios, xxiv 
Clwyd, Vale of, 274 
Clydog ap Cadell, 156 
Clynnog, 166 
Cnut, 85, 150 
Coch, Castel, 242. See also Tralhvng 

Castle and Pool Castle 
Cockayne, T., xxvi 
Codex Diplomaticus, 152 
Coed Grono (Grwyne), 260 
Coel Odebog, 84 
Coelbren, 56 
Coinmail, 77 
Coins, 44, 50, 415-420 



Coles, P. R., 21 

Coleshill, 115, 269 n., 270, 388 

Coligny Calendar, 17, 30 n, 

Collen Castle. 56 

CoUwyn Ap-Tangno, xxxiv 

CoUwyn of Anglesey, 247 

Columba, St., 119 n. 

Colunwy, 324 

Colwyn Castle, 264, 286, 313 

Commius, 49, 50, 416, 418 

Commodus, 419 

Commot, or cymwd, 107, 108 

Conan, 164 

Conan ap Owain, 265, 266, 267, 279 

Conan ap Owain Gwynedd,. 270 

Conan ap Rhodri Molwynog, 144, 145, 

146 
Concenn, xxvi 
Condidan, 77 

Constantine the Great, in Britain, 65 
Constantius Chlorus, 65 
Consyllt, battle of, 266 
Contract, early Welsh law relating to, 

128-130, 131 
Conway, monastery of, xxxii, 140 ; 

battle of, 152, 154 ; Treaty of, 

345 ; Edward I at, 355 
Conway Castle, xxxii 
Corfe Castle, 344 
Cornwall, Earl of, 353 
Cornwall, the Cymry in, 67, 76, 77, 81 
Corwen, 275, 280 
Council of the Marches {or of Wales) , 

231. 353. 392, 395-396 
' Count of the Saxon Shore,' 68 
Counties, division into, 351, 397 
Courcy, Robert de, 270 
Courts, early Welsh, 131 
Coytmor, Howel, xxxii 
Cradock, W., 405 
Crellan, or Gellan, 253 
Cremation in early times, 411, 414 
Crime, law relating to, 134-136 
Crogen Castle, 305 
Cromlechs, 412 

Cromwell, Oliver, xxxiv, 402, 405 
Cromwell, Thomas, 392, 396 
Crosses, Celtic, xxvii 
Crumbwell, John de, 358 
Crwtli, the, 421-424 
Cumberland, the Cymry in, 67, 80, 

81 
Cumbria, 86 

Cunedda, house of, xxvii, 148 
Cunedda Wledig, 81-83, 85, 96 
Cuneglasus, 93 
Cunobelinus, 50, 418, 419 



INDEX 



Cures and cunning, xxvi, 1 19-120 

Cutha, 75, 76 

Cuthwine, 77 

Cwmbrwyn, 56 

Cwm Hir, 348 ; abbey of, 374 

Cydewain, 342 

Cydweli, or Kidwelly, 145, 163, 193, 
194, 266, 313, 320 

Cydweli Castle, xxix, 260, 315, 367 

CyfeiUog, 156, 267 

Cyfnerth, 160 

Cymerau, battle of, 336 

Cymmrodor, Y, xxvi, 77 nn., 79 «., 
92 n. 

Cymru, 87, 88 

Cymry, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 94; land- 
tenure under, 86-88, 101-105 ; 
tribal customs of, 101-104, 106- 
107 ; marriage customs of, 103- 
104; everyday life of, 115-118 ; 
united under Rhodri Mawr, 149 

Cymwd, the, 107, 108 

Cynan ap lago, 245 

Cynfael Castle, 266 

Cyngen, 149 

C3'nric, 75, 76, 92 

Cynvrig, 263 

Cynvyn, 185 

Cynwreid, Isle of, 312 

Cynwric ap Rhiwallon, 246 

Cynwric the Tall, 251 

Cystennin ab lago, 167 

Cyvarwys, 102 



Da, 102 

Dafydd ab Bdmund, 399 

Danes, the, and Wales, 148, 149, 

150-153. 154-156. 163, 166-167, 

172, 246-250, 254 
Danu, or Dana, 13 «. 
Daron, Dafydd, 377 
David ap Grufludd, 334, 339, 342, 

343. 345. 346-348, 350 
David ap I^lywelyn, 313, 319, 323 n., 

327, 329-333 
David ap Owain, 121, 270, 274, 284 
David le Palmer, 359 
David, St., 94, 115; Henry II's 

pilgrimage to the shrine of, 282 
Davies, Dr. Richard, 400 
Davies, Edward, 26 
Davydd ap Gwilym, xxix, 362-363, 

364, 421 
Debt, law relating to, 131-134 
De Casu Principum, 89 
Deceangi, 51 



D^chelette, M., 20 and n., 23, 63 

De Falsa Moneta, 357 

Deganwy, or Dyganwy, 82, 96, 183, 

308, 332, 333, 336, 339, 345 
Deganwy Castle, xxvii-xxviii, 148, 

183, 184, 307, 309, 310 
Deheubarth, 107, 144, 145, 156, 162, 

164, 168, 169, 170-172, 175, 185, 

188, 189, 190, 252, 272, 275, 280, 

285, 287, 304, 335 
Deira, 97 
Demetae, 40 
Demetia, 50, 81, 145 
Demetrius, 210 
' Denber's Pasture,' 19 
Denbigh, 354, 355 ; battle of, 403 
Denbigh Castle, 404 
Denbighshire, 397 
De Nugis, 293, 294, 295 
Deorham, battle of, 77, 80, 86 
Dermot, king of Deinster, 281 
Description of Wales of Giraldus Cam- 

brensis, 299 
Desi, 12, 70, 71, 77 n. 
Despenser, Constance, Lady, 384 
Deuddwr, 200 
Deugleddyv, 318 
De Wallensihus ad Parliatnentum, 

397 
Diarmiad mac Mael-na-mbo, 248 
Didius Gallus, 52 
Dies amoris, 131 
Dimetian Code, 103, 129, 157 
Dinas Bran Castle, 341 
Dineirth Castle, 261, 272, 306 
Dinevor, or Dynevor, Castle. 305, 311, 

335, 382 
Dinweileir Castle, 265, 278, 279 
Diodorus Siculus, on the Druids, 29, 

31, 113 ; on Gallic bards, no 
Dion, on Boadicea, 53 
Diserth Castle, 339 
Diviciacos, 39 
Divixtus, XXV 
Dolaucothy, 56 n. 
Dolmens, 412 
Don, Children of, 13 ^. 
Don Quixote, and the Arthurian 

legends, 202 
Dooms, Saxon, Alfred's, and Aethel- 

stan's, 159 
Dover, 68, 90 
Dower, ancient Welsh law of, 125, 

126 
Dragendorff, Hans, 63 
Druids, 13, 25, 26, 27-35, 36, 37, 40, 

113-114; and the bards, no. Ill 

439 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Dryslwyn Castle, 354 

Dubnovellaunus, 50, 418 

Dubrae, 68 

Dyfed, or Dyved, 12, 40, 92, 93, 145, 
149, 156, 161, 162, 163, 166, 167, 
171, 183, 190, 191, 193, 194, 198, 
259, 262, 264, 279, 313, 315 

Dyffryn Clwyd, 252, 309 n., 345 

Dyfnwal Moelmud, 84 

Dyganwy — see Deganwy 

Dynevor, 344. See also Dinevor 



EadberT of Northumbria, 143 

Badmund, 159, 160, 420 

Eadric of Mercia, 182 

Eadwine of Deira, 97, 151 

Eadwine, son of Howel Dha, 160 

Ealdgyth, 173 

Eanfrith, 97 

Eblieu, 215 

Edeyrnyon, or Edeyrnion, 251, 275 

Edgar the Peaceful, 161, 162, 420 

Edis the Great, 163 

Ednowain ap Bradwen, 385 

Ednyfed ap Aaren, 385 

Education in Wales in the period of 

the Renaissance, 399 
Edward I, xxviii, xxxii, xxxiii, 

sxxiv, 233, 303, 304, 341, 352, 

357 
Edward II, xxxiii, 357, 358 
Edward III, 359 
Edward IV, 391, 395 
Edward, Prince, 334, 335, 338-339, 

Edward, Prince of Wales, xxxiv 
Edward the Confessor, 169 
Edward the Elder, 156 
Edwardian Conquest, 341 et seq. 
Edwin ap Einion, 163, 164 
Edwin ap Hywel Dda, 158 
Edwin of Mercia, 182 
Egbert of Wessex, 148, 149 
Egypt, association of early Britons 

with, 5, 14, 17, 23-25, 31-32 
Eifyonydd, 247, 252, 256 
Einion of Arvon, 246 
Einion ap Cediver, 190 
Einion ap Owain, 162, 164 
Einion, house of, 188, 190 
Eisteddfod at Aberteifi, 284 ; of 

Caerwys, 400 
Elaine, 216-217 
Eleanor, Queen, xxxii 
Eleanor, wife of Llywelyn ap 

Gruffydd, 343-344- 34^/ 34^ 



of, 



Elen, 217 

EUdge the Courteous, 95 

EUse ap Madog, 305 

Elise ap Tewdwr, 154 

Elisedd ap Anarawd, 159 

Eliseg, xxvi, 71, 84 

' Eliseg's Pillar,' xxvi, 71 

Ellesmere, castle and manor 

306 
Ellis, Sir John, 384 
Elucidation, 213 
Elvael, 264, 313, 344 
Elystan Glodrydd, 144 n. 
Emlyn, xxxi, 315 
Emlyn Castle, 314 
Enamelling, art of, in early Wales, 

xxiv, 121 
England, Wales merged in, 304, 591- 

408 
Eochaid, 12 
Eppilus, 50, 419 
Erbury, W., 405 
Eryri, 41, 187, 248, 256, 301, 308, 345, 

377 
Esp^randieu, M., xxv 
Essex, Henry of, 270 
Essyllt, 206 

Esyllht vz Conan, 146, 147, 148 
Etain, 205, 206, 207 
Ethandune, 154 

Evan ap Dafydd ap Gruffydd, 377 
Evans, Dr., 20, 21 
Evans, H. T., 395, 398 
Evans, Sir John, 415, 416, 418, 

419 
Evilieu, 215 
Evrawc, 215 

Ewias Harold Castle, 181 
Eyton, R. W., 233 n. 



Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 402 

Farnmail, 77 

Fat Hugh of Chester — see Chester, 

Hugh of 
Fethan-lea, battle of, 76, 77, 78 
Feudalism, beginnings of, 88 
Fflur, XXX 
Ffrith, 56 n. 
Fire, ancient Welsh law relating to, 

13^^-137 
Fishguard, 151 
Fitz Aed, William, 265 
Fitz Alan, William, 273 
Fitz Baldwin, Richard, 194 
Fitz Count, Brian, 260 n. 
Fitz Gerald, William, 267 



440 



INDEX 



Fitz Gilbert, Gilbert, 264 

Fitz Gilbert, Richard, 260 n., 262, 

272 
Fitz Hamon, Robert, 190 
Fitz Herbert, Peter, 306 
Fitz Hugh, Robert, 181 
Fitz Martin, Robert, 262 
Fitz Ore, William, 262 
Fitz Osbern, Roger, 183 
Fitz Osbern, William, 181, 182, 

183 
Fitz Raulf, Hugh, 264 
Fitz Richard, Gilbert, 199 
Fitz Stephen, Robert, 271, 276 
Flegetanis, 213, 214 
Flemings, 284, 317, 374 
Flemish Castle, 56 n. 
Flint Castle, xxviii, 345, 346 
FUntshire, 351 n. 
Flood, Mr. Solly, 384 n. 
Florence of Worcester, 162 n., 256 
Foods, ancient Welsh, 11 7-1 18 
Ford, 56 n. 

Fosterage, Welsh custom of, 105 n- 
France, Owain Glyndwr obtains 

allies from, 383-384, 385, 386 
Frankton, Stephen, slayer of I^ly- 

welyn ap Gruffudd, 348 
Freeman, E). A., xxx, xxxi, 242 
Fruit-culture in early Britain, 117 



GaEI<S, 4, 12 

Gaer, 56 

Gaimar, 213 

Galahad, Sir, 216 

Galanas, 102-103, 135 

Galath, 217 

Galfridus, 89 

Gam, David, 378 

Gariannonum, 68 

Garthgrug}^, 33 1_ 

Gastineau, H,, xxix 

Gawaine, 212, 215 

Gellan, or Crellan, 253 

Gelli Castle, 312, 316 

Gellygaer, 56 

Gemacon Castle, 264 

Geoffrey ap Arthur — see Geoffrey of 

Monmouth 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, xxx, 84, 90, 

91, 202, 208, 212, 290-293, 294 
Geoffrey, Prior, 300 
Geraint the Blae Bard, 112 
Gerald of Pembroke, 191, 195, 

196 
Gerald of Windsor, 296 



Gerald the Steward, 262 

Gerard, Charles, 403 

Germanus, 75 

Geweorcs, 227 

Gildas, 41, 71. 72, 73, 76, 84, 85, 90 
and n., 92, 93-94 

Gillys, or Gillyz, moneyer, 417 

Giraldus Cambrensis, xxxi, 59 n., 
73 n., 74 n., 90 n., 91, 114, 116, 118, 
132 n., 136, 137, 213, 224, 227, 237, 
259, 269 «., 270, 282, 290, 291-292, 
293 n., 294, 296-302 ; on Wales 
and the Welsh, 301-302, 318, 328 
408, 421, 424-425 

Glamorgan, 144 n., 249, 336, 354, 

376, 385. 387. 404 
Glannauc, 97 
Glanvill, Ranulph de, 300 
Glasfryn Uchaf, I^ake of, 13 w. 
Glastonbury, 89 

Gloucester, 77, 283, 323, 330, 372 
Gloucester, Earl of, 323 
Gloucester, Gilbert, Earl of, 341, 343, 

345. 354 
Gloucester, Miles of, 262 
Gloucester, Robert, Earl of, 230 
Gloucester, William, Earl of, 290 
Glyndyvrdwy (Glyndwr), 369 
Glywysing, 154 
Godfrey (or Geoffrey) ap Arthur, 

Abbot of Abingdon, 293 
Godfrey Haroldson, 163, 166-167 
Godiva, the Lady, 172 
Godwine, Earl, 172 
Goidels, 4, 11-13, 21, 33, 36-37, 40, 

71, 81, 82 and n., 83 
GoUards, 295 
Golias, 296 

Goodwick, battle of, 188 
Gorsedds, 412 
Gower, or Gwyr, 145, 162, 194, 259, 

285, 317, 364 
Gower, Bishop, xxx 
Gower, Sir John, 364 
Gowland, Professor, 20, 21 
Grail, legends of the, 202, 210 n., 213, 

218 
Grasholm, 151 
Gratian, 49, 65, 68, 69 
Gray, John de, 334 
Greindre, Sir John, 384 
Grey, John de, 358 
Grey, Lord, of Ruthin, 370, 371, 373, 

375 
Grey, Reginald, 347 
Grey, Reginald de, 357 
Grotius (van Groot), 219 

441 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Gruffudd ap I^lywelyn, 309 n,, 320, 

327. 330-332, 333 
Gruffydd ap Cynan, xxx, 123, 186- 

187, 188, 189 n., 192, 200, 211, 

245-258, 259-260 
Gruffydd ap Cynan, Hanes, 188, 

245 «. 
Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, 317, 330, 

331. 335. ^2,^. 339. 34°. 342, 343. 

344 
Gruffydd apl/lywelyn, 139, 167, 168- 

179,183,245; value of his work to 

Wales, 175-178 
Gruft'ydd ap Madog, 336, 341 
Gruffydd ap Maredudd, i8g, 190 nn. 
Gruffydd ap Rhydderch, 170, 171, 

172 
Gruffydd ap Rhys, 257, 259, 260, 

261, 262, 271, 274, 288-289, 304, 

313 
Gruffydd ap Rhys, Sir, 358 
Gruffydd ap Seisyll, 283 
Gruffydd Hiraelliog, 364 
Gruffydd Llwyd, 363, 375, 390 
Gruffydd of Glyndyvrdwy, 370 
Gruffydd, Richard, 394 
Gruffydd Vychan, 370 
Grythor, Rhys, 424 
Guala, papal legate, 318 
Guest, Ivady Charlotte, xxix, 47, 

210 n., 215 
Guinevere, 217 
Guotepir, 92 
Guthfred, 158 
Guthrie, King, 252 
Gwaet Erw, 247 
Gwalchmei, 208, 209, 215, 285 
Gwales, 151 

Gwallter ap Einion Clud, 313 
Gweharis, 250 
Gwely, 101-102, 103 
Gwenevere, 206, 207, 208, 214, 

215 
GwenlUan, 260 
GwenlUan vz lylywelyn, 348 
Gwent, 144 n., 145, 149, i54. ^55, 

157. 159' 162, 172, 179, 182, 

249 
Gwent Uch Coed, 249 
Gwentian Brut, 144 n. 
Gwentian Code, 157, 160 
Gwenwynwyn of Powys, 285, 287- 

289. 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 

310, 312, 315, 317 
Gwerthrynion, 335 
Gweryd, 95 
Gwgawn ap Meurig, 194 

442 



Gwgon, 149 

Gwladus, Princess, 283 

Gwladus, wife of Reginald de Breose, 
312 

Gwladys, wife of Ralph Mortimer, 
391 

Gwrgeneu ap Seisyll, 187, 247, 248 

GAvriad, 147 

Gwrtheyrn, King, 70, 77 n. 

Gwydion, 209 

Gwyn ab Nudd, 215 

Gwynedd, xxx, 41, 80, 81, 82, 83, 85, 
94. 95. 96, 107, 145, 149, 153, 156, 
161, 162, 164, 168, 183, 185, 187, 
188, 191, 245, 246, 252, 256, 257, 
258, 259, 260, 261, 263, 265, 273, 
274. 275, 284, 285, 304, 305, 308, 
309. 331 

Gwynioneth, manor of, 369 

Gwynllwg, 155 

Gwyr — see Gower 

Gwys Castle, 265, 272, 318. See also 
Wiston 



Hadrian, Emperor, xxv ; in Britain, 

64 ; sestertius of, 419 
Hadrian I, Pope, 143 
Hael, Ivor, 362 
Hallelujah Battle, 75-76 
Hamitic race, 5 ; language, 26 
Hanard, Jankyn, letter of, 382 
Hangest, Aubert de, 385, 386 
Hankford, Chief Justice, 388 
Hanmer, John, 383 
Hanmer, Margaret, 371 
Hanmer, Sir David, 371 
Harlech, 357 
Harlech Castle, xxxiv, 384, 387, 389, 

394' 404 
Harley, Robert, |Earl of Oxford, 

392 
Harold Godwinson, 171, 172, 174, 

175, 179, 185 
Harold Hardrada, 174 
Harp, the, in, 421-422 
Harris, Howel, 407 
Hatfield Chase, battle of, 97 
Haver field, Professor, 55, 62 
Haverfordwest (Haverford), 317, 318, 

336, 385. 397. 402, 403 
Havering, John de, 357 
Hawarden, 340 
Hawarden Castle, 346 
Hay (town), 56 n., 294 
Hay Castle, 312 «. 
Heathery Burn cave, 11 



INDEX 



Hecataeus of Abdera, 7 n. 

Heckethorn, 361 

Hen Castle, 313 

Henfrey, H. W., xxxiv 

Hengist, 72, 75 

Hengist and Horsa, 69 n., 72 

Hengwrt, xxix, 210 n. 

Henry I, 192-193, 195, 196, 19S- 
199, 200, 228, 259 ; invades Wales, 
256 ; second invasion, 257 

Henry II, 228 n., 254 ; conflict of, 
with Wales, 268-276, 280-283 ; 
death of, 285 ; and Walter Map, 
293, 296 ; and Giraldus Cambren- 
sis, 298, 408 

Henry III, 303, 342 ; and I^lywelyn 
the Great, 316-324 ; and David 
ap Wywelyn, 330-333 ; and Lly- 
welyn ap Gruffudd, 336-338 

Henry IV, 350, 359 ; and Owain 
Glyndwr, 371, 373-376, 379-381, 

383. 385-388 
Henry V, 303, 388 
Henry VII, 391, 393-395 
Henry VIII, 396, 397 
Henry of Brecknock, 283 
Henry of Essex, 270 
Henry of Hereford, 224, 283 
Henry of Huntingdon, 291 
Henry of Lancaster, 370, 371 
Henry of Monmouth, 374, 376, 381, 

384, 388 

Henry, son of Henry I and Nest of 

Pembroke, 271 
Herbert, A. H., 26 
Herbert, Colonel, 403 
Herbert, Lord, 402 
Herbert of Chirbury, 352 
Herbert, Sir William, 394 
Herbert, the house of, 306 
Hereford, battle at, 172-173 ; in 

Norman hands, 181 ; and the 

Stafufum de anno secundo, 372 ; 

English army assembled at, 376 ; 

mintage at, 417 
Hereford Castle, 182 
Hereford, Henry of, 224, 283 
Hereford, Roger, Earl of, 268-269, 

270, 272 
Herefordshire, formerly part of 

Wales, 144 ; ravaged by Owain 

Glyndwr, 375 
Hestinsgarth, megaliths at, 5, 19 
Hingamund, 155 
Hinks, Mr., 16 
Hissarlik, xxiii 
Histovia Brittonum, 76 n. 



Historia Regtim Britanniae, 291- 

292 
Historic of Cambria, 350 
Hoare, Sir R. C, xxviii, 204 n., 

425 
Hodgkin, Dr., 41, 79, 83 n., 145 
Hoke Day, 18, 114 
Holes, or Huls, Hugh, 388 
Holinshed, 376, 385 
Holmes, T. Rice, 7 n., 8 n., 9, 11, 

16 
Holyhead, 166 
Holywell Castle, 307 
Honorius III, Pope, 321 
' Honour,' political division, 107 
Hope, 56, 345 

Hope, W. H. St. John, 227 n. 
Horm, 151 
Hotspur, 377-381 
House, the early Welsh, 11 8-1 19 
Howel ap Cadell, 156 
Howel ap Cadwalader, 310 
Howel ap Edwin, 168, 169, 170, 

185 
Howel ap Goronwy, 194-195 
Howel ap Gruffydd, 305, 308 
Howel ap leuaf (Howel Ddrwg), 161, 

167 
Howel ap Madog, 341 
Howel ap Maredudd, 259, 261 
Howel ap Owain Gwynedd, 265, 266, 

267, 279 
Howel ap Owain of Deheubarth, 188 
Howel ap Rhodri, 144, 145, 146 
Howel Castle, 267 
Howel Ddrwg (Howel ap leuaf), 161, 

167 
Howel Dha, 25, 54, 95, 104-105, iii- 

112, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 123, 

142, 156-161, 186, 188, 417 
Howel, king of the West Welsh, 

158 
Howel of Caerleon, 283 
Howel of Glywysing, 154 
Howel Sais (Howel ap Rhys), 281 

282, 286 
Howel Sele of Nannau, 375 
Howel Ystoryn, 363 
' Hubert's Folly,' 322 
Hudd, Mr. A. E., xxv 
Hugh of Chester — see Chester, Hugh 

of 
Hugh of Shrewsbury, 251, 254, 255 
Hugh the Fat — see Chester, Hugh of 
Hugueville, Aubert de, 385 
Huls, or Holes, Hugh, 388 
Humphry's Castle, 263, 272 

443 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Huntingdon, Henry of, 291 
Husband and wife in ancient Wales, 

125-128 
Hyfaidd, 154 



Iago, 96 

lago ap Idwal ap Meurig, 245 

Iago ap Idwal Voel, 159, 160, 161, 162 

Iago, great-grandson of Idwal Voel, 

168, 169 
lal — see Yale 
Iblis, 215 
Iceni, 52 
Ide, 94 

Idwal ap Meurig, 245 
Idwal leuaf, 159, 160, 161, 162 
Idwal Voel, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160 
lestyn ap Gwrgant, xxxiv, 168 
lestyn of Morgannwg, 190 
Inclosure Acts, and Wales, 407 
Indarba mna nDisi, 1 2 
Ingram, Dr., 417 
Inheritance, Welsh, law as to, loi- 

105 
Innocent III, Pope, 300, 310, 317 
lolo Goch, 363, 364, 369, 424 
lolo MSS., 112 

lorwerth, Abbot of Talley Abbey, 300 
lorwerth ap Bleddyn, 180, 186, 191, 

192, 193-194, 196-197, 198, 199, 

200 
lorwerth ap Maredudd (the Red), 

271, 273, 274, 275, 277 
lorwerth ap Owain, 283 
Ireland, early incursions into Wales 

from, 12, 13 n., 70, 77 n., 82 n. ; 

and early Welsh legends, 13 w. ; 

Scots invade Wales from, 71 ; 

slave-traffic in, 130; Cadwgan 

and Owain flee to, 197 ; Madog 

and Owain in, 199 ; Gruff ydd ap 

Cynan in, 245-246, 248, 252, 255 
Irish, Henry III enlists aid of, against 

the Welsh, 332 
Irish mercenaries in Wales, 254-255, 

402, 404 
Isca Silurum, 52, 62 
Iscoed, 249 

Iseult, Isolde, or Essyllt, 206-207 
Ithel ap GrufEydd, 185 
Ithel ap Rhiryd, 198 
Ithel Ddu, 363 
Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis, 

299, 301 
Ivor Hael of Maesaleg, 362 
Ivor, son of Alan, 142, 143 



Jane vz Owain Glyndwr, 375 

Jeanne of Flanders, 213 

Jenkins, Judge, 404 

Jews, the, and the Arthurian legends, 

202 
Joan, wife of Llywelyn the Great, 

306, 308, 310, 321, 323, 325-327. 

329 
John, Kmg, 299, 305-316 
John of Monmouth, 331 
John, Prince, 298 
Johnson, Mr., 34 
Jones, Colonel Michael, 404 
Jones, David, xxxiii 
Jones, Edward, 421, 422, 423, 424 
Jones, Griffith, 407 
Jones, Mr. Arthur, 245 n. 
Jones, Professor Morris, 5 
Jones, Sir David Brynmor, 351 
Jones, W. Basil, xxx 
Joyce, Dr., 29, 30 
Julius Caesar, 4, 33, 39, 44, 47, 48, 

49, 415 
Julius Frontinus, 53 
Jurisdictions in early Wales, 131 



KarquiT, William, 297 

Kay, Sir, 215, 216 

Kemeys, Sir Nicholas, 404 

Keredigion — see Ceredigion 

Kerry, 342 

Kidwelly — see Cydweli 

Kilhwch and Olwen, 107, 203, 

207 
King, Professor, xxii 
' King's Great Sessions,' 397 
Kinship in the Cymric tribe, 106 
Kiot, 213 

Koenen, Konstantin, 63 
Kronos, 210 



IvACY, Henry, 355 

Lacy, Roger de, 253 

Lacy, Walter de, 248 

Lambert, Bishop of Menevia, 157 

Lancaster, Edmund of, 355 

Lancaster, Henry of, 370, 371 

Lancelot, romance, 215 

Lancelot, 207 and n., 213, 214-217 

Land cultivation under the Cymry, 

115-116 
Land, mode of inheritance of, 351 
Land-tenure in Wales, 62, 86-88, 

101-105, 180, 365-366 
Landau, Dr. L., 202 



444 



INDEX 



Ivand-maer, ii6 

I^angland, Wm., 131 

Langley, Geoffrey, 334 

I^angton, Stephen, 300, 301 

Ivanguage, Welsh, syntactical re- 
semblance of, to Egyptian, 5, 26 ; 
effect of the Puritan spirit upon, 
392, 406 

I^anval, 213 

Lanzelet, 213 

lyaporterie, M. de, xxi 

Laugharne, R., 401, 402, 403, 404, 

405 

Laugharne Castle, 314 

I^aw, Welsh, possible connexion with 
Roman, 103-105 ; modified by 
English, 123 ; proportion of adjec- 
tive and substantive law in early 
Welsh, 1 30-1 3 1 ; Welsh legal and 
judicial system merged in that of 
England, 303 ; English supersedes 
Welsh, under the Statute of 
Rhuddlan, 351 ; after the Act of 
Union of 1535, 397 

Laws and customs, 122, 123-138 

I^ayamon, 212 

Lechlawar, 282 

Lee, Bishop Rowland, 392, 396 

Legends, early Welsh, supposed Irish 
origin of, 13 w. See also Arthurian 
legends 

Leges Barbarorum, 159 

Leia, Peter de, 286, 298 

Leintwardine, 51 n. 

Lemannae, 68 

Leo VI, Pope, 157 

Leofgar, Bishop, 173 

Leofric of Mercia, 172 

Leominster, battle at, 171 ; and the 
Statutum de anno secundo, ^'jz 

Leprosy, in early Britain, 127 

L'Estrange, house of, of Knockin, 

371 
Lewis, H., 86 n. 
Lezouz potteries, xxv, xxvi, 64 
Lhuyd, Edward, xxvi, xxxiv 
Lincoln, 53 
Lincoln, Earl of, 347 
Lindisfarne, 95 
Literature, romantic, 201-220 ; 

Welsh, Irish influence upon, 211 ; 

Norman, influenced by Welsh, 

211 ; Welsh, from 1450 to 1750, 

399-400 
Little Cenarch Castle (probably Cil- 

gerran), 195 
Llanbadarn, 199, 261 



Llanbadarn Pawr, xxvii, xxxi, 16 
192, 362 

Llanbedr, 387 

Llancarfan, 166 

Llandaff, 156, 376 

Llanddewi Brevi, 363 

Llandegai, 404 

Llandeilo Fawr, 346 

Llandinam, 274 

Llandovery, 56, 272, 344 

Llandovery Castle, 279, 346. See 

also Llanymddyvri Castle 
Llandudoch, 166 
Llandydoch, battle of, 190 
Llanfihangel Castle, 261 
Llangadwaladr, 96, 99, n. 
Llangelyniu, 385 
Llan Geneu Castle, 336 
Llangynwyd Castle, 336 
Llanidloes Castle, 403 
Llanilltud, 166 
Llanio, 56 

Llannhadein Castle, 285, 286 
Llanrhystud Castle, 266, 267, 272 
Llanrillied, 115 
Llanrwst, iDattle of, 161 
Llanrwst Church, xxxii 
Llanstephen Castle, 263, 278, 285, 

314 
Llanvaches, 405 
Llanvaes, 325 
Llanvaes Convent, 373 
Llanymddyvri Castle, 305, 311. See 

also Llandovery Castle 
Llechryd, 364 
Lieu, 209 

Llewelyn ap Cediver, 190 
Lleyn, 108, 166, 246, 247, 248, 252, 

256, 305. 327. 345 
Lloegria, 50 
Lloyd, Major-Generai Sir Francis, 

xxxiv 
Lloyd, Professor, 94, 98 n., 158, 166, 

168 w., 175, 189 «., 264 n., 266, 319, 

320 n., 321, 324, 328 n., 332 «., 

336 n. 
Lludd, 210 

Llwyd, Edward (lolo Goch), 364 
Llwyd, Edward, of Llanvorda, 

xxxiv 
Llwyd, Humphrey, xxviii, xxxiv 
Llwyd, Morgan, 401, 405 
Llwyn Dafydd, 261 
Llwyn Pina, 271, 273 
Llychwr, or Loughor, Castle, 313 
Llyr, 204 «. 
Llywarch, 199 

445 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Llywarch Hen, 78, 147 

I^lywelyn ap Gruff udd, xxviii, 304, 
333-349, 350, 353 ; rise to power, 
334 ; risings under, 335 ; becomes 
' Prince of Wales,' 336-337, 339, 
340 ; allied with de Montfort, 339- 
340 ; makes peace with Henry III 
(Treaty of Montgomery), 340 ; 
refuses homage to EJdward I, 343 ; 
conflict with Edward, and sub- 
mission (Treaty of Conway), 345 ; 
marries Eleanor de Montfort, 346 ; 
joins the rising of 1282, 346 ; 
death, 348 

I^lywelyn ap lorwerth (the Great), 
xxviii, xxxi, xxxii, 85, 156, 285, 
287, 303-328, 329, 340, 391 ; 
influence upon the history of 
Wales, 303-304 ; rise to power, 
304-305 ; relations with King 
John, 305-307 ; marries Joan, 
John's daughter, 305 ; John's 
expeditions against, 308 ; submits 
to John, 308-309 ; leads a new 
rising, 309-310 ; in the rebellion 
of 1 215, 312 ; leader of the Welsh, 
314 ; Gwenwynwyn's defection, 
315 ; excommunicated, 317 ; makes 
peace with and does homage to 
Henry III, 317 ; favoured by the 
English court, 319 ; the Earl 
Marshal and, 320 ; new conflict 
with Henry III, 322 ; in the out- 
break of 1231, 323-324 ; joins with 
Earl Richard of Pembroke, 324 ; 
debt of, to his wife Joan, 325- 
326 ; last years, 325-327 ; death, 

327 

Llywelyn ap Seisyll, 164-167, 168 

Llywelyn Bran, 357-358 

Llywelyn of Glyndyvrdwy, 370 

Ivockyer, Sir Norman, and megalithic 
remains, 5, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 31 

Iv'CEuvre Castle, 183 

Lollard movement, and Wales, 367, 
372 

London, 53 ; and Henry II's Welsh 
campaign, 274 ; David ap Llywelyn 
cited to, 331 ; Welsh assist the 
Earl of Gloucester in his march 
upon, 341 ; early Welsh books 
printed at, 400 

Loughor (Llychwr), 56 n. 

Loughor Castle, 313 

Loyer, 155 

Ludlow, 231, 320, 372, 379, 380, 
393. 395 

446 



Ludlow Castle, 231-233, 424 
Lukis, W. C, 18 
Luxmoore, house of, 406 n. 

MABEiyAV ap Llywarch, 363 
Mahinogi of Math, 5, 13 n. 
Mabinogion, xxix, 201, 203, 204 

and n., 210 
Mabinogion, Lady Charlotte Guest's, 

xxix, 47, 210 w., 215 
Mabon, 215 
Mabudryd Castle, 272 
MacAirt, Cormac, 12 
Machynlleth, 378, 394 
Macpherson, J., 141 
Madog ap Bleddyn, 186, 189, 191 
Madog ap Gruffydd Maelor, 308, 309, 

312 
Madog ap Idnerth, 261 
Madog ap Llywelyn, 354-356 
Madog ap Madog, 341 
Madog ap Maelgwn, 310 
Madog ap Maredudd, xxxiv, 263, 

266, 267, 271, 273, 274, 275 
Madog ap Rhiryd, 180, i86, 191, 

196-200 
Maeldav, 86 

Maeldomen, moneyer, 417 
Maelgwn ap Maelgwn ap Rhys, 323, 

331, 333 

Maelgwn ap Rhys, xxxi, 284-285, 
286, 288, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 
309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 319 

Maelgwn (Mailcun) Gwynedd (Mael- 
gwn Hir), xxvii, 84-86, 93, 95 

Maelgwn Vychan, 354 

Maehenydd, 264, 331, 337, 338 

Maenclochog, 313 

Maer, 108 

Maes Hyvaidd Castle, 312, 316 

Maesydog, battle of, 143 

Maglocu, xxiv 

Magna Carta, 313 

Magnus Barefoot, 255 

Magnus, or Maccus, Haroldson, 
166 

Magnus, son of Harold Hardrada, 
174 

Maiden Castle, 11 n. 

Maiden-fee, 124-125 

Mailcun — see Maelgwn Gwynedd, 95 

Maine, Sir Henry, 351 n. 

Maitland, Professor, 160 n. 

Malbanc, William, 181 

Malltraeth, 108 

Malory, 90, 217 



INDEX 



Man, Isle of, 147, 163, 252 

Manaw, 147 

Mane-er-H'oeck, 25 

Manessier, 213 

Manorbier, 296, 300, 301 

Manu, Ivaws of, 27 

Map, Walter, 90, 169 n., 170, 173 n., 

290, 293-296 
March, Edward, Earl of, 375, 377 
March, Roger, Earl of, 364 
Marcher jurisdictions, 352, 392, 393, 

395 
Marcher lords, 351-353- 372, 387. 395 
Maredudd ap Bleddyn, 186, 192, 

193, 200, 254, 256 
Maredudd ap Cynan, 331 
Maredudd ap Edwin ap Einion, 168, 

170 
Maredudd ap GrufEydd ap I^lywelyn, 

185 
Maredudd ap Grufifydd ap Rhys, 265, 

272, 279 
Maredudd ap Howel, 263, 342 
Maredudd ap Owain, great-grandson 

of the I,ord Rhys, 333, 335, 341 
Maredudd ap Owain Glyndwr, 389 
Maredudd ap Owain of Deheubarth, 

182, 185, 187, 188 
Maredudd ap Owain of Gwynedd 

and Deheubarth, 160, 162-163, 164 
Maredudd ap Rhys ap Grtifiudd, 286 
Maredudd ap Rhys Gryc, 333, 335, 

337. 340. 341 
Maredudd ap Robert Cydevain, 308, 

309 
Mareys, Hugh le, 359 
Margaret vz I,lywelyn, 313 
Margaret, wife of David ap Dlywelyn, 

323 n. 
Marie de France, 212, 213 
Mark, King, 206-207 
Market law, 54 
Marriage law and customs, 103-104, 

125-128 
Marshal, the Earl WilUam, 318, 

320 
Marshal, the Earl William, the 

younger, xxsi, 320, 321, 323, 324 
Maskelyne, Dr., 21 
Math, 209 

Mathraval Castle, 309, 310 
Matilda, Queen, 264 
Maumbery Rings, 19 
Maurice, Norman leader, 260 
Mawr, cantref, 315 
Mawr, Ty, sxiii 
Maxen Wledig, 68-69 



Maximian, British coins of, 416, 419 

Maximus, 65, 68-69, 71, 416 

May year cult, 17 

Mechain, battle of, 185 

Meddilus, xxvi 

Medicine and mediciners, 1 19-120 

Medrant, 91 

Medrod, or Modred, 207, 208, 209 

Megalithic culture in Britain, con- 
nexion of, with Egyptian culture, 
23-26 

MegaUthic people, 12, 14, 26 

Meilyr ap Rhiwallon, 249, 250 

Meirion the Red, 251 

Meirionydd (later Merioneth), 82, 107, 
108, 247, 248, 266, 301, 305, 331, 

335. 357. 397 
Melwas, 206, 207 
Men-an-tol, 19 
Mendip megaliths, ig 
Menevia, 115, 163, 191, 331 
Men of Harlech, 394 
Mercia, 81, 143, 144, 150, 152, 153, 

154, 155, 182 
Mercians, wars of, with the Cymry, 

143, 144 and n., 149, 153, 155 ; 

Welsh alUed with, 182, 185 
Merddin — see Merlin 
Mere, Richard de la, 261 
Merfyn ap Rhodri, 153, 156 
Merfyn Frych, 146-148, 149 
Merion, 82, 108 
Merioneth — see Meirionydd 
Merionethshire, 82, 351 n. 
Merlin, or Merddin, 209-210, 280, 

282, 291 
Merwydd, 246 
Metalwork in early Britain, 10, 38, 

42-43 
Methodist revival in Wales, 407 
Meurig ap Idwal Voel, 163 
Meurig Barach, 310 
Meurig of Gwent, 154 
Meyer, Professor Kuno, 12, 13 
Mider, 205-206, 207 
Miles of Gloucester, 262 
MiLford Haven, 385 
Mills, J. Travis, 98 
Modred, or Medrod, 207, 208, 209 
Mold, 330, 332 
Mold Castle, 265, 266 
Mold, Robert of, 265 
Molesdale, 268 
Mon, or Mona, 31, 40, 82, 107, 145, 

151, 153, 163, 184, 246, 248, 255. 

308. See also Anglesey 
Monmouth, xxx 

447 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Monmouth Castle, i8i, 182, 403 
Monmouth, Henry of, 376, 381, 384, 

388 
Monmouth, John of, 331 
Monmouthshire, 397 
Monte, WilHam de, 299 
Montehus, Professor, 16, 21 
Montford, 331 
Montfort, Amaury de, 344 
Montfort, Eleanor de, 343-344, 346, 

348 
Montfort, Simon de, 338, 339, 340 
Montgomery, Arnulph de, 227 
Montgomery, battle of, 403 
Montgomery Castle, xxxii, 183, 253, 

320, 321-322 
Montgomery, Roger de, xxxii, 181, 

183, 227 
Montgomery, Treaty of, 340, 342, 

343 
Montgomeryshire, 397 
Montreuil, Gerbert de, 213 
Morcant, or Morgan, 76, 95 
Morcar of Northumbria, 182 
Mordav, Bishop of Bangor, 157 
Morgan ab Owain of Morgannwg, 158 
Morgan ap Gruff ydd ap Rhys, 260 
Morgan ap Howel, 332 
Morgan ap Owain, 260 
Morgan, Bishop, 392, 400 
Morgan, John, of Newburgh, 422 
Morgan, M. O., 26 
Morgan, rebel leader, 354 
Morgan the Aged, 112 
Morgannwg, 145, 157, 159, 162 
Morgatrud of Demetia, 146 
Morgeneu, 160 
Morien, 201 n. 
Morpeth, 97 

Morris, Rev. Meredith, 399 
Morte d' Arthur, 89 
Mortimer, Edward, Earl of March, 

375. 377. 381, 384 
Mortimer, family of, xxxii, 319 
Mortimer, Hugh, of Wigmore, 264, 

269 
Mortimer, Mr. J. R., 412, 414 
Mortimer, Ralph, 181 
Mortimer, Roger (i), 286 
Mortimer, Roger (2), 331, 335, 337, 

338, 339, 344. 348 
Mortimer, Roger, first Earl of March, 

364 
Mortimer, Roger, fourth Earl of 
March, 370 

Mortimer, Sir Edmund, 375, 376, 
377. 380, 389 

448 



Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 394 

Mortuo Mari, Roger de, 357 

Morvan, abbot of Whitland, 266 

Morvydd, xxix, 362 

Mostyn, house of, 401 

Mostyn, Sir Roger, 402 

Motte, the, xxix, 226-228 

Murfyn, xxxiv 

Murkertagh, King, 199 

Mur y Castell, 253, 256 

Miisic, Welsh, 425 

Musical instruments, Welsh, 421- 

426 
Myddleton, Sir Thomas, xxxii, 392, 

402, 403 
Myles, or Meules, Nicholas de, 333 
Mynydd Carn, battle of, 189, 250 
Mynydd y PwU Melyn, battle of, 385 
Mynyn, 166 

NABOPor,ASSAR, xxii 

Nabu-Pal-Iddina, xxii 

Nant Carno, battle of, 161 

Narberth, 313 

Narberth Castle, 314, 317 

Nativi, 109 

Neagh, I^ough, 13 >?. 

Neath, 56 n. 

Neilson, George, 227 n. 

Nelson, E. M., 5, 18, 19, 20 

Nennius, 76 and n., 82 n., 90, 91, 
204, 205, 212, 416 

NeoUthic man, 2-4, 6-9, 15, 22 

Nest, princess of Powys, 148 

Nest vz Rhys ap Tewdwr, 195-196, 
197, 271, 296 

Nevern Castle, 286, 314 

Newcastle Emlyn, 403 

New Grange, xxiii, 22-23, 409 

Newport (Trevdraeth) Castle, 314, 
323. 336 

Newport, Sir William, 384 

Newtown, 394 

Nicholson, E. W. B., 39 n., 92 and n., 
147, 148 

Nonconformist movement, Welsh, 
405-407 

Norman castles, the, 221-244 

Norman Conquest, contrasted with 
Anglo-Saxon invasion, 75 

Normans, beginning of Welsh con- 
flict with, 171 ; conquest of Wales 
by, xxviii, 180-184 ; and South 
Wales, 189, 190-191 ; wars with, 
190-192, 259 ei seq. ; hostility 
between Welsh and, subdued, 344 

Norsemen, 148, 150-152 



INDEX 



North Wales, 153, 155, 175, 238 n., 
277. 355 n., 365, 373, 403, 404, 408 
North Welsh race, 154-155 
Northumberland, Earl of, 387 
Northumberland, Robert of, 253 
Northumbria, 97 
Nudd, or Lludd, 210 
Nutt, A., 204, 210, 211 

OcTOBONUS, or Ottobon, papal legate, 

340, 341 
Offa, 80, 143, 144, 145 
Offa's Dike, xxvii, 144 and n., 145 
Ogham writing, xxiv, 35 
Ogof Owain, 385 
Olaf, King of Dublin, 245 
Oldcastle, Sir John, 367 
Oman, Professor, 225, 228 
Ovdinacio Stapularum, 359 
Ordovices, 40, 41, 53, 54 
Orewyn Bridge, 348 
Orleton, or Aureton, Castle, 226, 227 
Osric, 97 
Ossian, 141 

Ostorius Scapula, 50, 51 
Oswald, 97 

Oswald's Cross, battle of, 97 
Oswestry, 183, 274, 275, 316, 324, 

355- 381, 403 
Oswestry Castle, 266, 273 
Othona, 68 
Ovates, III 
Owain, 217-218 
Owain ap Cadwgan, 180, 186, 191, 

195-200, 256, 296 
Owain ap Gruff udd (the Red), 333, 

334 
Owain ap Gruffydd ap Cynan, 258, 

261, 263 
Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, 

342 

Owain ap Gruffydd ap Rhys, 289, 307, 
309, 311, 312, 314, 315, 316 

Owain ap Howel, 115, 1 60-1 61, 162 

Owain ap Maredudd of Elvael, 337 

Owain Brogyntyn, 274 

Owain Cyfeiliog, 260, 274, 275, 277, 
287 

Owain Glyndwr (Owain ap Gruffudd) , 
:s::s:siii, 350, 352, 363, 364, 368, 369- 
390, 391, 393, 408 ; in the Scottish 
campaign of Richard II, 370, 371 ; 
his English sympathies, 371 ; takes 
ut> arms against England, 373 ; 
his confederacy with Percy 
and Mortimer, 377-381 ; at the 
height of his career, and crowned 



Prince of Wales, 378 ; and the 
battle of Shrewsbury, 379-381 ; 
ravages South Wales, 381 ; ob- 
tains French allies, 383 ; de- 
cline in his fortunes, 384-385 ; 
a fugitive, 385 ; gets new help 
from France, 385, 386 ; deserted 
by a section of the Welsh, 387, 
388 ; his effective resistance at an 
end, 388 ; death, 389 

Owain Goch, 342, 345 

Owain Gwynedd, 123, 257, 259-277, 
278, 280, 281 

Owain, king of Gwent, 158 

Owain of Prance, 391 

Owain Pencarwn, 284 

Owain Vychan, 274, 277 

Owen, Aneurin, 132 

Owen, Dr. Henry, 293, 296 n., 297, 
300 

Owen, Goronwy, 399 

Owen, Hugh, 405 

Owen, James, 405, 406 

Owen, Sir John, of Clenenau, 401, 
402, 404 

Oxford, Provisions of, 338 

Oxford, the Lord Rhys at, 286 

Oxford University, Owain Glyndwr 
at, 369 

Oystermouth (Ystrum I^lwynarth 
Castle, 313 

Pain of Chaworth, 344 

Pain's Castle, 286, 288, 313, 340 

Palaeolithic man, i 

Pandulph, papal legate, 318 

Pantulf, William, 181, 192 

Papinian, in Britain, 65 

Paris, Matthew, 333 

Parisii, 39 

Parliament, Welsh representation in, 

397. 398 

Parry, Bishop, 400 

Parsifal, or Perceval, 213, 216, 218 

Parth lyludd, 210 

Pascent, 77 n., 84 

Payne-Gall wey. Sir R., 239 7?. 

Peasantry, Welsh, in the fourteenth 
century, 365-368 

Peckham, John, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, 347 

Pederton, Walter de, 357 

' Pelagian heresy,' 75, 78 

Pembroke, 194, 195, 227, 317, 394, 
402, 405 

Pembroke Castle, 191, 193, 195, 227, 
253, 254 



2F 



449 



HISTORY OF WALES 



Pembroke, Gilbert, EJarl of , 330, 331 

Pembroke, Richard, Barl of, 324-325 

Pen Cadeir, or Pencader, 170, 408 

Peucarn, Ford of, 280 

Pencelli Castle, 312 

Penda, 97, 98 

Pendragon, or Bendragon, Uthr, 208 

Penfro, 285 

Pengwern Castle, 267. See also 

Shrewsbury Castle 
Penllyn Castle, 305 
Penmon, 166 
Penmon Church, yyy 
Pennal, 56 
Pennant, T., xxvii, xsx, xxxii, 374, 

385 
Pennocrucion, 39 
Pentecost Castle, 226, 227 
Penwedig, 307 
Penwedig Castle, 267 
Penydarren, 56 
Penygaer, 56 n. 
Perceval — see Parsifal 
Percy, Sir Henry (Hotspur), 377-381 
Peredur, 214, 215, 216-218 
Perlesvaus, 213 
Petit, J. L-, xxxi 
Peverel of the Peak, 267 
Picton Castle, 403 
Picts, 4, 70, 83, 143 
Pipton, conference at, 339 
Plinlimmon, Mount, 374 
Ploughing, ancient Welsh mode of, 

116 
Poets of Wales in the fourteenth 

century, 361-364 
Pole, Griffin de la, 357 
PoUcronicon, 89 
Pomponius Mela, on the Gallic Druids, 

28 
Pontrufydd Hall, 56 ??. 
Pool Castle, 287, 335 n., 342. See 

also Trallwng Castle and Castel 

Coch 
Portgerefa, 54 
Porthclais, 249 
Porth Honddu, 252 
Port Nevin, 252 
Portskewet, 179 
Portus Adurni, 68 
Pottery, Roman, found in Wales, 

xxv-xxvi, 63-64 ; Celtic, 44 
Powel, David, 190, 271, 353 and n., 

354, 401, 404, 405 
Powell, Vavasour, 405 
Powys, 39, 70, 81, 82, 83, 96, 107, 

145, 148, 149, 153. 159, 161, 183, 

450 



185, 188, 191-200, 249, 250, 251, 
253, 266, 268, 273-274, 275, 280, 
285, 307, 309, 315, 331, 335, 357, 
358 

Poyer, J., 402, 404, 405 

Prasutagus, 52 

Prestatyn Castle, 277 

Presteigne, 396 

Price, house of, 401 

Price, Sir John, 403 

Prichard, Vicar, 400, 401 

Priestholm, 97, 151 

Prince of Wales, Edward, seventh, 
xxxv-xxxvi ; the first English, 
XXXV ; Ivlywelyn II claims to be, 
304, 337 ; Ivlywelyn the Great not, 
de jure, 325 n. ; Llywelyn ap 
Grufiudd as, 336-337. 339. 34° ; 
Owain Glyndwr proclaims himself, 
373 ; Owain Glyndwr crowned as, 
378 

Princes, period of the, 139-167 

Printing, early, in Wales, 399-400 

Procopius, on Scotland, 46 

Prosper Tiro, 68 

Pumpsaint, 56 n. 

PwU Dyfach, battle of, 170 

PwU Gwdyg, battle of, 187 

Pwyll, 208 

Pyle, 56 n. 

Pyramid, the Great, 19 

QUATBRIDGE, 155 

Quest of Lancelot, The, 295 

Radnor, 286 

Radnor Castle, 312 n., 374 

Radnorshire, 397 

Raglan Castle, 394, 401, 404 

Ragnaillt, 245 

Ralph, Earl, 171, 173 

Randulf, Earl — see Ranulf of Chester 

Ranulf of Chester (i) (Hugh fitz 

Raulf, Earl Randulf), xxx, 264, 265 

267, 268 
Ranulf of Chester (2), 319 
Recorde, Richard, 399 n. 
Red Book of Hergest, 5, 47, 210 n. 
Red Castle, 324. See also Castel 

Coch 
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, 279 
Regulbiiun, 68 
Rein the Scot, 164-165 
Religion in Wales, 399, 400-401 
Renaissance, the, and Wales, 392, 

398-400 
Rhaiadr Gwy Castle, 284 



INDEX 



Rhiryd, 186,189, 191 

Rliiwallon, 182, 185 

Rliiwiau, sisv 

Rhodri ap Grufiudd, 342 

Rhodri ap Howel, 100 

Rhodri ap Owain, 284 

Rhodri Mawr, 143, 148-150, 151, 

152, 153, 167 
Rhodri Molwynog, 143, 144, 145, 146 
Rhos, 183, 184, 252, 256, 262, 285, 

309 n., 317, 318, 336 
' Rhoscomyl, Owen,' 373, 379, 380 
Rhuddlan, 174, 175, 269, 271, 280, 

345. 346, 347. 420 
Rhuddlan Castle, sxviii, 181, 1S3, 

186, 247, 277, 280, 309, 310, 346 
Rhuddlan, Robert of, 183-184, 246, 

248 
Rhuddlan, Statute of, 104, 123, 350- 

352, 356, 365 
Rhun, or Run, 95, 96 
Rhun ap Owain, 265 
Rhuvoniog, or Rhufoniog, 145, 183, 

309 n., 345 
Rhyd y Gors Castle, 191, 194, 253, 

254 

Rhyd y Groes, battle at, 169 

Rhydderch, 95, 119 n. 

Rhydderch ap lestyn, 164 

Rhyddgaer, 56 n. 

Rhymney, 182 

Rhys ap Gruifydd (12th cent.), 160 

Rhys ap Gruffydd (14th cent.), 35S 

Rhys ap Gruffydd ap Rhys (the lyord 
Rhys), XXX, 272-273, 274, 275, 
276, 277, 278-287, 298 ; and the 
Welsh laws, 123 ; resists Henry II, 
272 ; joins in the struggle of 1165, 
275—276, 280 ; rise to power, 278— 
279, 281 ; conflicts with Henry II, 
and submission, 279-280 ; com- 
pact with Henry, 281 ; helps 
Henry in England and in France, 
282 ; his Eisteddfod at Aberteifi, 
284 ; his power decUnes, 286 ; 
death, 286 

Rhys ap Howel, 264 

Rhys ap Maelgwn, 310 

Rhys ap Maredudd, 353-354 

Rhys ap Owain, 186, 187-188 

Rhys Appowel, 358 

Rhvs ap Rhys. 286 

Rhys ap Rhys ap Gruffydd, 289, 307, 
309, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 

317 
Rhys ap Tewdwr, 188-190, 191, 211, 
249, 250 



Rhys ap Thomas, sides with the 

Tudors, 394 
Rhys ap Thomas, Sir, xxxiii, 388 
Rhys Ddu, 387 
Rhys Gryc, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 

313, 314, 315, 317 
Rhys Grythor, 424 
Rhys Mechyll, 313 
Rhys of Deheubarth, 267 
Rhys, Sir John, xxiv, xxvi, 5, 6, 12, 

17, 30 and n., 40, 70, 77 nn., 83, 

124, 203, 205, 207, 208, 209, 214, 

216, 217, 218 
Rhys Vychan, 335, 336, 342, 345 
Richard, Bishop of Bangor, 341 
Richard I, 285, 286, 299 
Richard II, 370, 371, 373, 394, 

395 
Richard of Clare, 281 
' Richard's Castle ' (Aureton, Orle- 

ton), 226, 227 
Richborough, 61 

Richmond, Edmund, Earl of, 394 
Rivaux, Peter de, 325 
Roads, Roman, in Wales, 62-63 
Robert, Bishop of Bangor, 308 
Robert fitz Stephen, xxx 
Robert of BeUeme, 192, 193 
Robert of Mold, 265 
Robert of Northumberland, 253 
Robert of Rhuddlan, xxviii, 183-184, 

246, 248 
Robert of Sai, 181, 197 
Roches, Peter des, 324, 325 
Roderick the Great — see Rhodri 

Mawr 
Roessler de GraviUe, C, xxi 
Roger of Wendover, 6q n., 140 
Rolleston, T. W., 45 n. 
Roman forts in Britain, 56-58 
Roman occupation of Britain, 48- 

66 ; occupation of Wales, 55-56 
Romances, the Welsh, 201-220. 

See Arthurian legends 
Roses, Wars of the, the Welsh in, 391, 

393 
Rossyr, 108 

Round, J. H.,xxix, 226 «., 227, 233 n. 
Rowlands of I^langeitho, 407 
Run, or Rhun, 95 
Rupert, Prince, 403 
Ruthin, 373, 375 
Ruthin Castle, 404 
Rutupiae, 68 



Saer, Norman, 194, 195 
St. Albans, 50, 53 



451 



HISTORY OF WALES 



St. Asaph, 297, 298 

St. Clear's, or St. Clare, Castle, 285, 

314 
St. David's, xxx, 154, 189, 297, 298, 

299-300 
St. Pagan's, battle of, 404 
Saint -Michel, Mont, 22 
Saintsbury, Professor, 294 
Sales, 129 

Salesbury, William, 392, 400, 402 
Salisbury, gemot of, 87 
Samian ware, found in Britain, xxv, 

xxvi, 63 
Sampson, Archbishop of, xxvii 
Sandef, 251 
Saraad, no, 135 
Sam Helen, 62 
Saxons, 68-80, 119, 146, 148, 152, 

161 ; everyday life among, 117 
Schliemann, Dr., xxiii 
Scots (Scotti), 4, 71, 82 andn., 164-165 
Scotti — see Scots 
Scudamore, Phihp, 387 
Seebohm, 86, 104, 118 
Segontium, xxiii 
Seigneurial jurisdictions, 222 n., 352, 

392, 393. 395 
Seinhenydd (Sein Hen3'dd) Castle, 

313, 316 w. 
Seiont, xxxiii 

Seisyll ap Dyfnwal, 224, 283 
Seisyll ap EJudaf, 225 
Seisyllwg, 149, 156 
Semitic afiS.nities of early Britons, 5, 

6, 36, 40 
Seneca, and the Britons, 52 
Senghenydd, 313, 316 »2. 
Septimius Severus, in Britain, 64-65 
Sergi, Professor, 14 
Shakespeare, and Owain Glyndwr, 

369-370, 376 ; and mutilations 

practised by Welshwomen, 376 
Shrewsbury, 181, 182, 183, 192, 253, 

275. 306, 310, 312, 319, 321, 330, 

342, 348, 359, 372, 376, 394, 395, 

400, 402, 403 ; battle of, 379-381 
Shrewsbury Castle, 183, 192, 253, 

312. See also Pengwern Castle 
Shrewsbury, Hugh of, 251, 254, 255 
Shrewsbur}-, Treaty of, 340 n. 
Shropshire, formerl}^ part of Wales, 

144 
Silures, 40, 50, 51, 52, 53 
Sion Eos, 422 
Sippar, temple at, xxii, 19 
Sitruic of the Silken Beard, 245 
Skeel, Miss, 393, 395 

452 



Skenfrith, 312 m. 

Slavery in Wales, 109, 116; in 

Ireland, 130 
Snowdon, 256, 347, 350, 351 
Snowdonia, 347, 355 n. 
Social constitution of Welsh tribes, 

108-110 
Solstitial cult, 17 
Somerset, John, Earl of, 374 
South Wales, 153, 187, 189, 190, 237, 

271-272, 276, 283, 314, 319, 321, 

323, 324, 373, 375, 379, 380, 381, 

384, 402, 403, 404, 407-408 
Stanley, Sir William, 395 
Stanton Drew, megaliths at, 19 
Statuta Wallie {Statutum Walliae), 

351. 352 
Statute of Gloucester, 396 
Statute of Labourers, 360 
Statute of Rhuddlan, 104, 123, 350- 

352 
Statute Staple, benefits of, extended 

to Wales, 359 
Statutum de anno secundo, 372 
Stephen, King, 260, 262, 264 ; Wales 

neglected by, 268 
Stephen, Sir J. F., 352 
Stephens, H. M., 139 
Stone Age, 1-8, 411 
Stonehenge, 5, 7 n., 15, 16, 17, 19, 

20-21, 32 
Strabo, on the Druids, 29, 31, 113 ; 

on the stature of the Britons, 42 n. ; 

on the Welsh bards, no 
vStrange, Lord, 355 
Strata Florida Abbey (Ystrad Fflur), 

xxx, 140, 287, 327, 330, 341, 374 
Strathclyde, 72, 76, 80, 81, 82, 84, 

90, 94. 97. 143. 147 
Succession, law of, in early Wales, 

105 and n. 
Suessiones, 39 
Suetonius, 52, 53, 113 
Sulien, Bishop, 250 
' Sunday, the battle on the,' 152 
Sunday-school movement in Wales, 

406 
Sun-worship, 21, 22, 203, 210 
Superstition and magic, 1 19-120 
Sureties, 1 31-134 
Swansea, 151, 310 
Swansea Castle, 316. See also 

Seinhenydd 
Sweyn, Danish leader, 163 
Sweyn, Earl, 170, 171 
Sycharth, xxxiii, 364, 369, 370, 381, 

389 



m 



INDEX 



Taeogau. 109, 119, 127, 128, 134 

Talargan, 143 

Talbot, I/ord, 373 

Talbot, Sir Gilbert, 384, 389 

Taliessin, Book of, 26, 34 

Talley Abbey, 287 

Talybont, 313 

Tamblyn, W. F., 31. 33 

Tangwystyl, 246 

Tany, Ivuke de, 347 

Tappan, E- M., xxx, xxxvi 

Tasciovanus, 50, 418-419 

Tegeingl, 51, 266, 271, 274, 277, 

309 n. 
Teifi, XXX, xxxi, 262 
Tenby, 267, 272, 279, 284, 385, 402 
Terebra, xxix 
Tewdwr ap EHse, 156 
Tewdwr ap Elisedd, 158 
Tewdwr, brother of Owain Gwynedd, 

385 
Tewdwr of Anglesey, 247, 248 
Thomas of Brittany, 213 
Thompson, A. H., xxxi 
Thurnam, Dr., 414 
Timbs, J., xxxiv 
Tincommius, 50, 416, 418 
Tippetot, Robert de, 353, 354 
Togodumnus, 50 
Tomen-y-Mur, 56 
Topography and Conquest of Ireland 

of Giraldus Cambrensis, 298, 301 
Tostig, 174 

Tout, Professor, 348, 366 
Tower of I,ondon, 228, 331, 358, 387 
Towyn, 166, 266 
Trading, rise of, 357 
Trahaearn ap Caradoc, 246, 247, 24b, 

249, 250 
Trahaearn Brvdydd Mawr, 363 
Trahaearn of Arwystli, 187, 188 
Trallwng Castle, 287, 324. 335- 
See also Castel Coch and Pool 
Castle ^ 

Trees, 1175^. 
Trefgarn Owain, 369 
Trefhedyn, 399 ^ „ 

Trevdraeth Castle, 314. 330- ^^^ 

also Newport 
Trevor, Bishop of St. Asaph, 383 
Triads, the, 31, 84, 98 n., m, 206, 

215, 217, 253, 
Tribal custom, 101-107 ; constitu- 
tion, 108- 1 10 ; courts, 222 n. 
Tristram, 206-207 

Troubadours of Wales of the four- 
teenth century, 361-364 



Tudor, Henry, see Henry VII 
Tudor, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, 

394 
Tudor, Owen, of Anglesey, 391, 394 
Tudors, Wales under, 391-392, 395. 

398 
Twr Bronwen, xxxiv 
Twrch Trwyth, 204 
Ty Gwyn ar Dav, Y, 112 
Tywi, Vale of, 193. I94. 34^ 

Uchelwyr, 109, 128 
Uchtryd, 265, 291 
Ulrich von Zatzickhoven, 207 n., 213, 

214 
Union, Act of (i535). 392, 393. 396- 

397 
Urban IV, Pope, 338 
Uriconium — see Viroconium 
Urien ap Cynfach, 95 
Usk, 56 

Vacarius, 398 
Valence, William of, 346 
Valle Crucis Abbey, 71, 34I' 3^9 
Values, of chattels, clothing, live- 
stock, etc., 121, 129 
Vaughan, Sir Henry, 401 
Veda, Lossio, 13 n. 
Venables, William, 382 
Venedotia, or Venedote, 97, 99. 186 

Venedotian Code, 84, 103, 109, 120, 
123, 125, 127, 157 

Venta, 237 . . 

Venus, worship of, in early Britain, 5 

Vepont, or Vieuxpont, Robert, 309, 
310 

Veranius, 52 

Verica, 50 

Verulam, 53 

Viroconium, or Uriconium, xxiv- 
XXV, xxvi, 63. 77-78, 147 

Vortigern, 69-71. 72, 77 ^•. 81, 03. 

84, 99 
Vosenos, 418 
Votepori, Voteporigis, or Votecon- 

gis, 92-93 
Vyrnwy, battle at, 375 

Wage, Robert, 90, 212 

Wales, Roman occupation of, 55-5" ; 
Anglo-Saxon invasion and, 67 ; 
delimitation of, 80 ; political 
divisions of, 107-108; Druidism 
in, 113 ; North and South, 153 ; 

453 



HISTORY OF WALES 



influence of tribal systera upon 
early liistory, i66 ; Gruff ydd ap 
I/lywelyn's additions to the 
territories of, 175-177 ; condition 
after Gruff ydd, 179 ; Norman ad- 
vance in, 180-184 ; li^r claim to 
independence, 243 ; William Rufus 
invades, 253-254; Henry I in- 
vades, 256-257 ; united against 
Henry II, 275-276 ; after Henry's 
death and under Richard I, 285 ; 
Giraldus Cambrensis on, 301 ; in 
the thirteenth century, 303 ; in- 
dependence of, lost, 303, 304 ; 
beginning of amalgamation with 
England, 348-349 ; annexed b; 
Edward I, 350 ; eastern, divided 
into counties, 351 ; risings under 
Rhys ap Maredudd and Madog, 
353-356 ; union with England, 
391-408 ; national debasement in 
the century before the Union, 393 ; 
changes effected by the Act of 
Union, 397 ; representation in 
Parliament, 397, 398 ; state of, 
in the period of the Renaissance, 
398-399 ; and the Civil War, 
401-405 ; in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, 407-408 

Walganus, 208 

WalUngford, Brian de (Brian fitz 
Count), 260 

Wallingford, Walter of, 291 

Walsingham, Thomas de, 376 

Walter ap Gruff ydd, 313 

Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, 291 

Walter, Bishop of Oxford, 212 

Walter, Hubert, 287 

Wander, Queen, 207 

Wannore, 207 

Warenne, Earl, 347 

Warin the Bald, 181 

Warranty, 126, 129-130 

Warren, Earl, 370 

Wars of the Roses, the Welsh in, 391, 

393 

Warwick, Earl of, 344 

Warwick, WilUam Beauchamp, Earl 
of, 355 

Wat's Dike, 145 

Wauchier de Denain, 213 

Webb, E. J., 16 

Wele, ox gwely, loi, 102, 103 

Welsh race, earhest ancestors of, 2-4 ; 
effect of Anglo-Saxon invasion 
upon, 67 ; character of the early, 
137-138 ; notable as bowmen, 

454 



184 ; Giraldus Cambrensis on, 

301-302 
' Welshman,' 72 n., 81 
Welshpool, 200, 335, 374, 394 
Wendover, Roger of, 69 n., 140 n., 

202 
Wessex, 150 
Westminster Abbey, go 
Westmorland, Earl of, 381 n. 
Weston, Miss J. L,., 201 n., 202, 212, 

214 
' V/est Welsh,' 155, 158 
White Castle, 312 
White House, 112, 119 
' White pagans,' 148 n. 
Whitland Abbey, 287 
Whittaws, 356 
Whittington, 340 
Wich, 265 

Wife, the, in ancient Wales, 125-128 
Wight, Isle of, 73 
Wigmore Castle, 181 
William, Earl of Gloucester, 290 
WilUam I, xxix, 75, 87, 181, 182, 189, 

228 
William II, invades North Wales, 

253-254 
WilUam of Malmesbury, 151, 161 
WilUam of Newbury, 291 
WilUam of Valence, 346 
WilUams ab Ithel, 70 
WilUams, Canon, xxix 
Williams, Lord Keeper, 401 
Williams, Sir John, xxix 
Winchester, 90 
Winifred's (Wenefrede's) WeU, St., 

xxvii 
Winwaed, battle of, 72, 98, 139 
Wiston Castle, 278. See also Castell 

Gwys 
Wledig, Cunedda, 41 
WoUram von Eschenbach, 213, 214 
Women, position of, and law relating 

to, 124-128 
Woodbury HiU, 386 
Wood-Martin, W. G., 25 
Woodstock, cotmcils at, 280, 307 ; 

Peace of, 334 
Woodward, B. B., xxix 
Wooing of Emir, The, 26 
Worcester, 317, 318, 372, 385 
Worcester, Florence of, 162 n., 256 
Worcester, Marquis of, 401, 404 
Wrexham, 402 

Wright, Thomas, 233 n., 296 and n. 
Wroth, William, 405 
Wroxeter, 56, 63 



INDEX 



Wulfhere, 144 
Wylie, Mr., 377 n., 388 
Wynn, family of, xxxii, 398 
Wynn, Mr., of Penkescedd, 424 



Yai^e; (lal) Castle, 266, 271, 273 
Year, division of, 17-18, 30 n. 
Ynys Bronwen, xxviii, 204 n. 
Ynys Gynwreid, 312 ;.'. 
Yonge, Griffith. 383 
York, 61, 65 
York, Duke of, 393 
Yscoed, manor of, 369 
Yspyddaden, 207 
Ystoryaeu Seint Greal, xxix 



Ystrad Cyngen Castle, 267, 279 
Ystrad Fflur Abbey — see Strata 

Florida 
Ystrad Meurig Castle, 263, 272, 288, 

306 
Ystrad Tywi, 145, 149, 171, 186, 

279, 315, 387 
Ystrum Ivlwynartb (Oystermouth) 

Castle, 313 
Ystus Llwyd, Y, 363 
Ystwyth, 199 



Zeus, and the Arthur conception, 203 
Zimbabwe, Great, 19 
Zouche, William de la, 234 



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